Stalked Israelis in New York and shouted "all Jews must die": sentenced to just 90 days in prison

A Queens resident who pleaded guilty to an antisemitic assault in Times Square in October 2023 was sentenced to 90 days in prison and five years of probation. Amin followed a group of Israelis wearing kippahs, played Hamas music, shouted death threats, and finally struck one of them from behind. The sentence was handed down nearly three years after the incident.

Nearly three years after attacking an Israeli tourist in Times Square, Yahya Amin was sentenced to just 90 days in prison and five years of probation. Amin, a Queens resident who was 28 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty in March of this year to a hate crime assault. The sentence was handed down yesterday (Tuesday) in the Manhattan Supreme Court. According to a New York Daily News report from the courtroom, Amin smiled and flashed a "V" sign at photographers during the proceedings. When Judge Althea Drysdale asked him why he was smiling, he quipped through an interpreter that he wanted to "look good for the cameras." The attack occurred on October 18, 2023, 11 days after the October 7 attack. According to the indictment, the victim, a 23-year-old Jewish Israeli tourist, was walking in Times Square with four friends, all wearing kippahs. Amin followed them for more than ten minutes, played Hamas music, shouted that "Hamas should kill more of you" and that all Jews should die. He then ran at the Israeli and struck him on the back of the head. Amin fled but the Israeli and his friends chased him and a police officer arrested him. Even after his arrest, he continued to make anti-Israel and anti-Jewish statements.