Columbia hate crime suspect apologizes to Palestinian community, not Jewish victims
A man charged with multiple hate crimes against Jewish individuals near Columbia University offered a public apology this month—not to his victims, but to the Palestinian community.
Tarek Bazrouk faces three counts of hate crimes for allegedly attacking Jewish students near the Ivy League campus between April 2024 and January 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
A man charged with multiple hate crimes against Jewish individuals near Columbia University offered a public apology this month—not to his victims, but to the Palestinian community.
Tarek Bazrouk faces three counts of hate crimes for allegedly attacking Jewish students near the Ivy League campus between April 2024 and January 2025, according to the Department of Justice.
Rather than express remorse to the victims of the alleged attacks, Bazrouk directed his apology elsewhere.
“I am sorry. I am Palestinian and I participated in the protest to display my outrage,” Bazrouk said on June 11, according to The New York Post. “I should not have used violence. I hope my family and community can forgive me.”
Federal prosecutors accuse Bazrouk of intentionally targeting Jewish students.
In April 2024, he allegedly kicked a Jewish student in the stomach. In two subsequent incidents—December 2024 and January 2025—he is accused of punching two other Jewish students in the face.
“As alleged, Tarek Bazrouk deliberately set out to harm Jewish New Yorkers — targeting them at protests, singling them out, and assaulting them for nothing more than their identity,” said New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch in a DOJ press release.
“These alleged hate crimes not only violated the victims’ ability to exercise their First Amendment rights, but also intimidated and sparked fear among a broader population,” added Christopher G. Raia, FBI acting special agent in charge of the New York Field Office.
The New York Post also reported that Bazrouk has alleged ties to the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
On June 4, Columbia University responded to media reports about Bazrouk, stating that he is not a student or employee.
“Contrary to media reports suggesting otherwise, we have no record of this individual ever being on Columbia’s campus,” the university said in a statement. “We want to be clear that this individual is not affiliated with our university in any way. Columbia strongly condemns antisemitism and violence, and we are horrified by the violence and hate crimes described in the indictment.”
The Bazrouk case follows growing federal scrutiny of anti-Semitism at Columbia.
In May, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded that Columbia’s administration had exhibited “deliberate indifference” to anti-Semitic harassment. OCR Acting Director Anthony Archeval said the university created a “hostile environment” that disrupted the education and well-being of Jewish students for over 19 months.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education formally notified Columbia’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, that the university is out of compliance with accreditation standards due to its failure to enforce federal civil rights protections.
