Pro-Palestinian protester who assaulted Jews faces hate crime charges

Saadah Masoud faces up to ten years in federal prison for assaulting Jewish man in brutal, unprovoked attack at pro-Palestinian rally in New York.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Hate crime charges were filed against a New York man who physically attacked a Jewish man at a pro-Palestinian rally, federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

Saadah Masoud brutally beat a pro-Israel counter-protester during a pro-Palestinian rally that turned violent in April 2022.

The victim, Matt Greenman, was draped in an Israeli flag when Masoud approached him and struck him in the head and body multiple times, knocking him to the ground.

Greenman suffered a concussion and was hospitalized after the incident.

According to a copy of the prosecutor’s complaint filed by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office obtained by the New York Post, Masoud attacked “actual and perceived religion.”

Gerald Filliti, Greenman’s attorney, praised prosecutors for “sending a clear message that hate crimes targeting Jews have serious consequences.”

He noted that the charges are especially important considering “the massive increase in antisemitic hate crimes we are seeing across the nation.”

“This federal prosecution shows that the civil rights of the Jewish community are taken seriously and entitled to protection,” he added.

Masoud is believed to have threatened and assaulted Jewish community leaders in previous incidents, the filing noted.

In June 2021, he allegedly told a Brooklyn Jewish advocate that “we know where you live, we will get you” and punched the man twice in the face and body.

In July 2021, he was said to have snatched an Israeli flag from a stranger and then punched that man in the face.

Under federal law, Masoud could get up to ten years in prison if found guilty of committing a bias-motivated crime.

Masoud’s social media profiles contain numerous antisemitic statements and incitement to violence against Jews.

“Yeah, I’ll go to jail proudly! I’ll go to jail proudly! Allahu Akbar [God is Great]! I’ll go to jail proudly, baby! I love it!” Masoud boasts in a defiant YouTube video, when he was asked about his aggressive, and often illegal, form of protesting.