(Daily360.com) – Former Obama aide Stuart Seldowitz is under the social media microscope for some viral videos that show him insulting a Muslim food cart vendor in New York City. The videos feature Seldowitz wearing different outfits, indicating they were taken on different days, asking the vendor such questions as; “did you rape your daughter like Mohammed did?”
Another video features Seldowitz holding an Israeli flag pin to the glass partition of the food cart, and in another, he accuses the man of supporting the killing of children. The man responds by saying it is Seldowitz kills children, not him. After that they trade barbs about the Hamas and Israel conflict for a bit. Seldowitz also threatened to involve his “friends in immigration,” insinuating he’d have the vendor deported back to Egypt.
Seldowitz worked as the acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate for the Obama administration. However, his political ties are not saving him from the wrath of prominent Democrats. Mayor Eric Adams called the remarks Islamophobic and “vile, disrespectful rhetoric” that has no place in NYC. New York’s governor Kathy Hochul echoed those thoughts on Twitter, likewise calling Seldowitz’s remarks “vile rhetoric” and said her administration condemn his statements “in the strongest terms.”
For his part, Seldowitz says he remembers arguing with the vendor and that it’s “quite possible” that it’s him in the video clips. He says if he had it to do over again he would “not have raised the religious aspect” with the vendor. He also said he does not see himself as an “Islamophobic guy.” Seldowitz claims he made the remarks “in the heat of the moment” and was overly emotional about the topic.
The videos don’t show what may have initiated the dispute between the men. The New York Post ran a story in late October detailing the overwhelming support Hamas has among New York City’s street vendors. They quote one vendor as saying “I am Muslim. I am Egyptian. We support Gaza.” The large majority of vendors they interviewed blamed Israel for the hostility in the region.
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