Jew-hating attacker flashes wild victory sign after NYC judge hands him light sentence for antisemitic assault

Yehia Amin, of New York, smiled and flashed what court observers saw as a “victory sign,” as he was sentenced on Tuesday to 90 days in jail for stalking kippah-wearing Jews through Times Square and punching an Israeli tourist days after Oct.7.Amin pleaded guilty in March to third-degree assault as a hate crime under a plea agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

He originally faced seven charges stemming from the Oct.18, 2023 attack.Glenn Richter, founder of the New York Jewish Community Judicial Watch Group, told JNS that Amin arrived at court late in the day with his mother after failing to appear in the morning.“Mr.

Amin, who should have been there in the morning, saunters in in the afternoon, along with his mommy,” Richter told JNS.Court staff had to locate an Arabic interpreter, which pushed the case to the end of the day, he said.During the sentencing, Althea Drysdale, a judge in the New York City Criminal Courts, saw Amin smiling and asked him about it.“I see you smiling,” the judge told Amin, as Richter recalled.

“This is a serious matter.Why are you smiling?”Amin said, via the interpreter, that he was smiling because he wanted to look good for the photographs, Richter told JNS.Amin’s demeanor struck Richter as especially jarring given that he was being sentenced to jail.

“What kind of guy grins at this very, very, very tough judge Althea Drysdale as she’s sentencing him to prison time?” Richter told JNS.Richter said that he did not interpret Amin’s hand gesture as a peace sign.“To me, it’s a V for victory,” he said.

“It’s possible that he thought, listen, there were originally seven charges that were going to be thrown against him, and it was plea bargained down to one charge of third-degree assault as a hate crime.”“Maybe to him this was a victory,” Richter told JNS.Richter, who attended prior hearings in the case, said that Amin hadn’t behaved that way previously.“I think this is becaus...