The Justice Division at present introduced {that a} 20-year-old man was indicted on federal hate crime fees stemming from assaults on Jewish folks at protests, together with close to Columbia College final 12 months.
Tarek Bazrouk, 20, of New York Metropolis, was arrested this morning after an indictment charging him with hate crime counts was unsealed, the Justice Division stated.
The three assaults occurred at protests about Israel and the struggle in Gaza in 2024 and 2025, prosecutors stated.
Bazrouk is accused of stealing the Israeli flag draped across the shoulders of somebody in a gaggle singing Jewish songs in an incident subsequent to Columbia’s campus on Dec. 9.
When the group went to get the flag again, Bazrouk punched considered one of them, a Columbia scholar, within the face, prosecutors alleged.
Nothing in courtroom paperwork alleges that Bazrouk is a Columbia scholar.
The opposite assaults are alleged to have occurred close to Wall Avenue and within the Gramercy Park part of the town, in line with courtroom paperwork.
On-line federal courtroom data didn’t record an lawyer for Bazrouk tonight.
The federal government is searching for to have him detained with out bond, in line with courtroom data.
