UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — He threatened to have a halal cart worker’s father’s fingernails removed, but all he got was a slap on the wrist.
The former State Department official, Stewart Seldowitz, took a plea deal to avoid jail time on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Seldowitz, 64, was arrested and charged with stalking as a hate crime and harassment in November after a number of viral videos depicted him in a series of hate-filled confrontations with a halal cart worker on the Upper East Side.
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The plea deal means that in lieu of serving any jail time, Seldowitz must complete a 26-week anti-bias program in Queens, prosecutors said.
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During that time, Seldowitz is forbidden from violating an existing restraining order in place keeping him away from the cart he targeted — even if a violation of the order does not result in the arrest.
Seldowitz will have the case dismissed if he completes the classes and remains out of trouble for an undefined period.
The videos recorded by the halal food cart vendor triggered outrage across the city for Seldowitz’s disturbing comments.
In one of the videos, Seldowitz accused the vendor of supporting Hamas in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“You support killing little children,” Seldowitz said.
The vendor replied, stating, “You kill children, not me,” which prompted Seldowitz to say, “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian children, you know what? It wasn’t enough.”
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In another comment, the former diplomat asks one worker if he was familiar with Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, also known as the Mukhabarat.
“Mukhabarat in Egypt will get your parents,” Seldowitz says. “Does your father like his fingernails? They’ll take them out one by one.”
“Smile for me,” Seldowitz says as he holds up his own cell phone and laughs.
He then asks him if he rapes his daughter “like Muhammad did?”
Seldowitz, who lives nearby the Yorkville halal vendor, was arrested shortly after the videos went viral.
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