Not halal

By now, many New Yorkers have heard about the November bum of the month. Stuart Seldowitz is the lowlife who harassed, over a four-day period, a singularly hard-working and decent American citizen, Mohamed Hussein, originally from Egypt.  

After those few days, the NYPD arrested and charged Stu with aggravated harassment and related charges.  

What was this all about and what do we know or believe happened?   

Seldowitz is a well-educated Upper East Sider. What we also know is that he served in the State Department and the National Security Council for many years before retiring and becoming a lobbyist. So far, nothing unusual or out of sorts.  

Following the Oct. 7 massacres in Israel by the militant group Hamas and the far more horrific events that have taken place since, there has been a lot of debate and discussion, with lots of passion on both sides, about the seemingly intractable issue of the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict.  

During Thanksgiving week, Seldowitz decided presumably to purchase something from his local halal cart. In any case, Seldowitz decided to reveal his true character in several exchanges with a man who on video and audio appears to be a decent human being. 

A man who didn’t start an argument, wasn’t wearing anything in particular which would lead one to think he has any opinions pro- or anti-Israeli or -Palestinian. In short, a man working for a living.  

Seldowitz, whose anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and Islamophic “principles” presumably don’t stop him from eating Arab cuisine, struck up conversations with Hussein, much captured on video, during which he berated and harassed him. 

Some of the vile things he said and did, such as questioning his citizenship and threatening to have him deported, making fun of him because he isn’t fluent in English (“that’s why you work on a food cart”), threatening to have him tortured by the Egyptian secret police by having his fingernails removed, asking the 24-year-old man if he “rapes” his daughter like the Prophet Mohammad raped his daughter, in my experience are the definition of ignorant, cruel, inhumane, deranged, sick and beyond the pale.   

The comment that struck me the most was the one Seldowitz made that “if we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what, it wasn’t enough.” 

Let’s get something straight. Had Seldowitz in a momentary flash of stupidity or anger or frustration uttered a couple of comments which, while deplorable, I would find his thinking repugnant but would likely leave it at that from a legal point of view.  

With that said, we must remember that Seldowitz engaged in his ignorance over a period of four days. 

Speaking just for myself, what was Hussein wondering as this man repeatedly returned to his truck?  I might think this creep is going to come back with a gun or a knife to attack me. I might wonder and fear that this unhinged man might set my food truck ablaze.  

I know I would be mighty concerned, especially given the passions of the moment that I was possibly being confronted by a mentally ill person who might turn to violence.  

Here is then where the law comes in. We all seem to know the adage about free speech. It’s a great value and we protect it to the extent possible. With that said, we all know the limits on free speech since we were kids: “You can’t scream fire in a crowded movie theater” is a near-cliche. But you also can’t scream “I’ve got a gun” when standing in front of a bank teller even if you had no gun.   

For as long as I’ve been practicing law, New York State has laws against harassment and menacing which by their nature are designed to deal with impermissible speech.  

Seldowitz was therefore charged with harassment.  It isn’t a particularly serious offense in New York but it is a penal code violation. Will he be going to jail? No. Will he be placed on probation or some other type of supervision? I’d bet against it. 

He’ll likely get off with a minimal punishment and the point will have been made.  

More important to me is the fact that Stuart Seldowitz has been outed as a despicable, smug, arrogant, ignorant, racist fool. The incident went viral and, speaking for myself, I won’t forget his name or face any time soon.  

Here’s to the BUM of the month in New York, a well educated man who has no class, no grace, no elegance, no decency and no ethics. An arrogant creep of the highest order.  

Here’s a shout-out to Mohamed Hussein for handling himself with calm, dignity and real class.   His frequently uttered response to Seldowitz was “please leave, please leave.” No anger, no violence, no outburst even though he was being repeatedly provoked by Seldowitz.  

Speaking only for myself, I wish Hussein had walked out from behind the cart and given Seldowitz a piece of his mind (and maybe a swift kick in the ass). 

I would have been honored to represent Hussein in court pro bono. It would have been my privilege, if for no other reason than to skewer Seldowitz on a witness stand or just to show Hussein that there are Americans who are disgusted by this sort of treatment of our fellow humans.    

Vincent Scala is a former Bronx assistant district attorney. He is currently a criminal-defense attorney in New York City and its suburbs.