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(TJV/LP/United with Israel) The Lawfare Project (LP) issued the following statement ahead of the sentencing hearing for Saadah Masoud, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit hate crime attacks, including against LP client Matt Greenman. The hearing is taking place at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY, 10007 Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, before Judge Cote in Courtroom 18B:
“We are grateful to the Justice Department, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and Assistant US Attorneys Lindsey Keenan and Mitzi Steiner for vigorously prosecuting this case to provide justice for Matt Greenman and the other victims of Saadah Masoud’s violent hate crimes.
This case is a wakeup call to local prosecutors like Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, whose notorious failures to prosecute cases like this have given the impression that it’s open season on New York City’s Jews. His failure to prosecute, combined with his willingness to offer lenient plea deals, is unacceptable. The Justice Department obtained a conviction in less time that it would have taken Bragg to draft a plea deal, and Bragg needs to be held accountable for his inaction.
More than that, we need a thorough investigation that brings Masoud’s co-conspirators to justice. This conviction and sentencing is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning. The full extent of the conspiracy needs to be exposed and rooted out, and we look forward to working with the NYPD and the Justice Department to assure that all the perpetrators are brought to justice. “
Gerard Filitti, Senior Counsel at The Lawfare Project, will be at the hearing representing Matt Greenman and is available to speak to available media. According to Filitti,
“It is highly significant that Masoud was convicted of a conspiracy to commit hate crimes targeting Jews, in as much as it validates what many in the Jewish community have been saying for years as antisemitism and violence rise to historic levels. Masoud was not a lone actor. He was part of a conspiracy, fomented by Jew-hatred, that ultimately sought to deny Jewish people their civil rights.”
Federal prosecutors charged Saadah Masoud with a hate crime for viciously assaulting a Jewish man at an April protest in New York City, United with Israel previously reported.
Masoud posted several videos online, whining about the “five year” sentence he faces and claiming he shouldn’t be charged with a hate crime.
According to Masoud, he’s careful not to say “f–k the Jews” and “always uses the word “Zionists.” By this logic, Masoud believes he shouldn’t be charged with a hate crime for the incident in which he’s accused of beating Matt Greenman at a violent pro-Palestinian protest as he walked down a busy street in Midtown Manhattan.
The 28-year-old Jewish man dared to drape an Israeli flag around himself in broad daylight in New York City, and video appeared to catch Masoud pouncing on Greenman, striking him repeatedly.
Masoud believes the media is “stretching the story out” because “they control the media, they control everything.” Whether Masoud is referring to “Jews” or “Zionists” when he says “they” remains unclear.
The antisemitic conspiracy that Jews monopolize the means of mass communication for nefarious plots is a persistent canard. While the Nazis used this conspiracy extensively, antisemitic state-sponsors of terror, such as Iran, continue to promote the concept.
Most recently, a member of the United Nations’ designated anti-Israel panel, Miloon Kothari, claimed that Jews control social media.
“We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by, whether it is the Jewish lobby or it is specific NGOs, a lot of money is being thrown into trying to discredit us,” said Kothari.
Returning to Masoud’s version of the antisemitic canard, he apparently believes the cause of his legal woes is the biased media, not actual assaults that harmed innocent Jews who dared support Israel.
Masoud is accused of attacking Greenman because of his “actual and perceived religion,” according to an unsealed Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office criminal complaint.
“In the complaint, dated June 10 and first filed under seal, special U.S. agent Lavalle Jackson alleged that Masoud had participated in two other violent attacks against Jews last year,” reported the New York Post.
After the attack, Greenman was treated at a nearby hospital for a concussion, among other injuries. The assault was launched amid a massive wave of antisemitic attacks in New York City, some of which have been accompanied by screams of “free Palestine” and anti-Israel invective.
Masoud also allegedly struck a Jewish community leader twice in the head and body in June 2021, saying during the attack, “We know where you live, we will get you,” according to court documents.
In addition, Masoud is accused of striking a man in the face for carrying an Israeli flag in July 2021, an assault that also took place in Brooklyn. The flag was stolen in that incident.
The complaint lists Masoud’s allegedly threatening behavior online, including Instagram posts in which he stated “I wish I could show you the things I do to Zionist but I can’t post them.” He also talked about “judgment day” when “we slaughter all of them like sheep.”
