NEW YORK, United States โ A New York man who followed a group of visibly Jewish Israeli tourists through Times Square while shouting antisemitic threats before punching one of them has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.
Yehia Amin was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in March to third-degree assault as a hate crime. Under the plea agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the jail term will be followed by five years of probation.
The assault occurred on October 18, 2023, just 11 days after the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel.
According to prosecutors and court records, the 23-year-old victim was visiting Times Square with a group of Israeli friends. The five men in the group were visibly Jewish, wearing kippahs and tzitzit.
Amin encountered the group near 42nd Street and Times Square at approximately 9:30 p.m. and began following them.
What followed, according to prosecutors, was more than 10 minutes of harassment across several blocks.
Amin directed a series of explicitly antisemitic statements at the group, including threats against Jews and expressions of support for Hamas. He also played music from a Bluetooth speaker that he later described as “Hamas music.”
The tourists tried to get away from Amin and, at one point, approached a security guard for help. Amin nevertheless continued following them as they headed toward a subway station to leave the area.
Prosecutors said Amin then ran up behind the 23-year-old victim and punched him in the back of the head, causing redness, swelling and substantial pain.
Amin fled, but the tourists pursued him and alerted a police officer, who arrested him.
Prosecutors said his antisemitic statements continued after his arrest.
Guilty Plea To Hate Crime
Amin was originally indicted in December 2023 on seven counts, including stalking and assault charges designated as hate crimes, as well as aggravated harassment.
He challenged several of the charges, but in June 2024, New York Supreme Court Justice Althea Drysdale declined to dismiss or reduce the indictment after reviewing the grand jury evidence. The court found prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case on each count.
In March 2026, Amin pleaded guilty to third-degree assault as a hate crime.
The plea ultimately resulted in the 90-day jail sentence and five years of probation imposed September 15.
Smiles And Hand Gestures At Sentencing
Amin’s conduct during the sentencing hearing drew additional attention.
According to amNewYork, Amin smiled and repeatedly displayed a two-finger hand gesture toward photographers while sitting in court. The publication described it as a peace sign, while some Jewish community observers interpreted it as a victory gesture.
When Drysdale asked why he was smiling, Amin said through an interpreter that he wanted to look good for the cameras, according to a New York Daily News report.
Jewish community observers who followed the proceedings criticized the plea agreement and sentence as too lenient. Glenn Richter, founder of the New York Jewish Community Judicial Watch Group, told JNS that Amin appeared unrepentant and pointed to his repeated court appearances during the case.
The sentence nevertheless represents a conviction specifically recognizing the antisemitic motivation for the assault.
The case was among the antisemitic incidents reported in New York during the sharp increase that followed the October 7 attack. New York Jewish Week noted when Amin pleaded guilty that hate-crime convictions can be difficult to secure because prosecutors must establish that the offense was motivated by bias.
For the Israeli tourist attacked in Times Square, the case took nearly three years to reach sentencing.
Amin is now serving the 90-day jail term imposed for an assault that New York’s criminal justice system formally recognized as an antisemitic hate crime.
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