Times Square Attacker Receives 90 Days in Jail for Antisemitic Assault
Yahya Amin was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation for a 2023 antisemitic attack on an Israeli tourist in Times Square, sparking widespread debate over the leniency.
Nearly three years after attacking an Israeli tourist in Times Square, Yahya Amin was sentenced to just 90 days in jail and five years of probation. Amin, a Queens resident who was 28 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty in March to assault as a hate crime. The sentence was handed down on Tuesday at 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 hearing. When Judge Althea Drysdale asked him why he was smiling, he quipped through an interpreter that he wanted to look good for the cameras. He was subsequently sentenced to 90 days behind bars and five years of probation.
The attack occurred on October 18, 2023, just 11 days after the October 7 massacre. According to the indictment filed by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, the victim, a 23-year-old Jewish Israeli tourist, was walking through Times Square with four friends, all wearing kippahs. As the group passed Amin near Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, he identified them as Jews and began following them.
Following the Israelis for Over Ten Minutes
According to the indictment, Amin followed them for more than ten minutes, playing music over a Bluetooth speaker that he later described as Hamas music, and shouting a series of antisemitic and anti-Israel slogans. Among other things, he chanted that Hamas should kill more of you, that all Jews should die, and stated that he wanted to kill them because of Gaza.
When the Israelis attempted to approach a security guard and later head toward a subway station to leave the area, Amin continued to follow them. According to the indictment, he eventually sprinted toward the 23-year-old Israeli from behind and struck him in the back of the head, causing redness, swelling, and significant pain.
Amin fled the scene, but the Israeli and his friends gave chase, and a police officer who joined the pursuit apprehended him. According to the prosecution, even after his arrest, he continued to voice anti-Israel and antisemitic remarks.
Amin pleaded guilty on March 23 to assault as a hate crime. The sentence was delivered nearly three years after the incident, concluding with three months of imprisonment and five years of probation.
