Stuart Seldowitz, 64, was arrested on charges of aggravated harassment, hate crime stalking, stalking causing fear, and stalking at a place of employment, police said on Thursday AEDT in a statement.<\/p>\n
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Stuart Seldowitz.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA 24-year-old male victim stated to police that an individual approached him at his workplace multiple times and made anti-Islamic statements multiple times on different dates causing the victim to feel afraid and annoyed,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n Video went viral earlier this month of multiple arguments over the Israeli-Hamas conflict between Seldowitz, a former State Department employee, and the unidentified man working in a halal cart on a Manhattan sidewalk.<\/p>\n The war that broke out on October 7 has prompted a surge in antisemitism and Islamophobia in the United States and fueled frequent street protests in support of both Israel and Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n Social media posts showed Seldowitz saying, \u201cIf we killed 4000 Palestinian kids, you know what? It wasn\u2019t enough. It wasn\u2019t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n In the posts, the vendor is seen telling Seldowitz to \u201cgo, go, go, go\u201d and \u201cI won\u2019t hear it.\u201d Seldowitz then responds, \u201cBut you\u2019re a terrorist. You support terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n Seldowitz told local television news before his detention that the video posted on social media failed to tell the whole story and that he became upset only after the unidentified man said he supported the Hamas attacks on Israel that killed Israeli civilians.<\/p>\n \u201cThe comments that went beyond him, and could be interpreted as attacks on Muslims and Arab-Americans and so on, were probably not appropriate,\u201d Seldowitz told WNBC television. \u201cThe comments I made calling him out for his support of terrorism – those I think were appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Reuters could not reach Seldowitz for comment.<\/p>\n Seldowitz worked in the Obama administration as acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate, according to his LinkedIn profile which is no longer active. He also worked at the State Department, an archived telephone directory for the agency shows. He told the New York Times<\/em> that he had worked for Department\u2019s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs.<\/p>\n Asked about the incident, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: \u201cThe United States unequivocally opposes racist or discriminatory language of any form.\u201d<\/p>\n Reuters<\/strong><\/p>\nMore coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict<\/b><\/h3>\n