[ad_1]
A Manhattan-based lobbying group cut its ties with Stuart Seldowitz, a former US state department official, on Tuesday after a video emerged showing him hurling racist and Islamophobic rant at a food card vendor in New York went viral on social media.
In a post on X, Gotham Government Relations said it has “ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz, an individual who hasn’t contributed to our work in years. The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm.” His page has also been removed from the firm’s website.
— Gotham Government Relations (@GothamGovt) November 21, 2023
In the video, Seldowitz, who served as a national security official in the Barack Obama era, was seen berating the vendor with Islamophobic comments in New York City, calling the man a “terrorist”. Talking to the vendor, Seldovitz tells him: “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what? It wasn’t enough.”
Further, he mentions his “friends in immigration” and says, “the Mukhabarat wants your picture,” seemingly referring to an Egyptian intelligence agency.
The man repeatedly asks him to “please go”, telling Seldovitz that he doesn’t know English.
In response, Seldovitz says, “Tell me why I should go? I’m standing here. I’m an American. It’s a free country. It’s not like Egypt.”
Seldowitz was also seen making offensive remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
According to a report by New York Times, Seldowitz returned to the same location over several days and refused to leave.
this man is continuing to berate and harass the halal cart vendor. He ends the video with “if we killed 4,000 palestinian kids? It wasn’t enough”. pic.twitter.com/yhu4HSvIEZ
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) November 21, 2023
In another clip, Seldowitz accuses the vendor of not having a permit or visa. “I’m going to put up big signs here that say ‘This guy believes in Hamas’.”
After the vendor says that he has a permit, Seldovitz goes on to call him a “terrorist” and questions as to how he became a US citizen.
According to a New York Times report, Seldovitz said that the episode started after he asked the vendor if he was Egyptian. He further said the vendor expressed support for Hamas as the conversation progressed, though no such claims are captured on any of the videos.
“At that point, I got rather upset and I’ve said things to him, that in retrospect, I probably regret, though- i do regret,” he was quoted saying by the NYT. “Instead of focusing on him and what he said, I expanded on to insulting his religion and so on.”
Seldowitz has served as the acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under Obama and was deputy director/senior political officer in the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003.
[ad_2]