A former Obama administration official, Stuart Seldowitz, has been arrested by police officers after videos of him went viral that showed him harassing a Halal cart vendor in New York.

The incident happened at an Upper East Side food cart on Second Avenue and 83rd Street. Seldowitz was seen spewing hateful rhetoric at the vendor and he is now facing multiple charges, including aggravated harassment, hate crime, and stalking.

Stuart Seldowitz Arrested, Charged With Hate Crime

(Photo : KENA BETANCUR / AFP) (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Former Obama official Stuart Seldowitz arrested and charged for hate crime after Islamophobic rant against Halal cart vendor.

The suspect was previously an official of the State Department and worked as the acting director for South Asia in the National Security Council. Law enforcement officials said that Seldowitz was the person seen in viral cell phone videos who went on hateful rants at the Adam Halal Food Cart.

In the recordings, Seldowitz was seen saying, "I'm gonna put big signs here that say, 'This guy believes in Hamas.'" He also claimed that the vendor was a terrorist and that he supported terrorism. At one point, the former Obama official said that even if they killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, it would not be enough, as per CBS News.

Through a translator, the 24-year-old food cart vendor, Mohamed Hussein, said that Seldowitz was not a customer but came over to ask where he was from. When he replied that he came from Egypt, his translator said that the official started telling him that he supported Hamas.

After that, Hussein started filming, which was why the video recordings did not show the initial encounter. On the other hand, Seldowitz claimed that the food cart vendor told him that he supported what Hamas did, which is why he got so upset. However, it was a claim that Hussein denied.

A co-owner of the cart, Islam Moustafa, said that they would have rather Seldowitz came over and apologized instead of flipping the story against them. A part owner of the cart, Yasser Nawer, said they have no problem with anybody and do not try to create any problems.

New York police said that Hussein told law enforcement that an individual, referring to Seldowitz, approached his workplace multiple times and made anti-Islamic statements on different days, according to Aljazeera.

Read Also: FBI Says Ohio Walmart Suspect Partially Motivated by Racial Extremism in Shooting of 4 People 

Islamophobic Retorts

In other exchanges, Seldowitz could be heard casting slurs against Prophet Muhammad and calling the Halal cart vendor "ignorant" for his alleged lack of fluency in English. The former Obama official also threatened to use his government connections to mobilize Egypt's secret police, the Mukhabarat, against Hussein.

During a phone interview, Seldowitz said that he is not Islamophobic and that he regrets some of the things that he said to Hussein. He noted that instead of focusing on him and what he said, he expanded into insulting the vendor's religion.

The incident between Seldowitz and Hussein came as tensions have risen between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups in the United States. There have been near-daily demonstrations in New York City about the war.

Officials have also recorded increases in both anti-Islamic and antisemitic hate crimes and some of the angry encounters have gone viral on various social media platforms, said the New York Times.

Related Article: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Accused of Sexually Assaulting Colleague 30 Years Ago