Former Obama adviser pleads not guilty to hate crime, stalking charges

Former Obama administration official Stuart Seldowitz pleaded not guilty Thursday to hate crime and stalking charges, court records show, after he was accused of harassing the operator of a New York City food cart with racist and Islamophobic language.

Seldowitz previously worked in the State Department and was a national security adviser under former President Obama. He was arrested Wednesday on two counts of stalking as a hate crime and an additional count of aggravated harassment.

Videos circulated on social media earlier this week showing Seldowitz yelling at a food cart worker using Islamophobic language and references to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Some videos appear to be taken on different days.

“You support killing little children,” Seldowitz says to the vendor in one video. The vendor retorts, “You kill children, not me.”

Seldowitz replies, “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian children, you know what? It wasn’t enough.”

In another video, he appears to threaten the vendor with a reference to Egypt’s intelligence agency, the Mukhabarat, before making derogatory comments about Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

“Mukhabarat in Egypt will get your parents,” Seldowitz said. “Does your father like his fingernails? They’ll take them out one by one.” 

Seldowitz was released after the not guilty plea, according to court records.

The Hill has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Seldowitz later apologized for his actions in an interview with City & State on Tuesday.

“I regret the whole thing happened and I'm sorry,” he said. “But you know, in the heat of the moment, I said things that probably I shouldn't have said.”

Rates of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim violence and harassment have dramatically increased since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza early last month.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the organization has received 1,283 reports of harassment and violence as of this month, an “unprecedented” 216 percent increase over last year.

“The Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric that have been used to both justify violence against Palestinians in Gaza and silence supporters of Palestinian human rights here in America has contributed to this unprecedented surge in bigotry,” CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor said in a statement.

Attacks and harassment against Jewish people have also increased since the Hamas militant group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel. New York Police Department data released this month found a 214 percent increase in antisemitic attacks in October over the month prior.