By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 9/17/2026
Category: Criminal Courts / Hate Crimes / Victim Justice
NEW YORK CITY, NY –
A Manhattan judge sentenced Yehia Amin to 90 days in jail for a hate-crime assault on an Israeli tourist in Times Square, closing a criminal case that began with a seven-count indictment and ended in a negotiated guilty plea.
Amin pleaded guilty in March to third-degree assault as a hate crime. Judge Althea Drysdale imposed the sentence Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court, according to courtroom reporting by the Jewish News Syndicate and other outlets.
The victim was a 23-year-old Israeli man visiting New York with four friends on October 18, 2023, less than two weeks after the Hamas attack in Israel. The men were wearing kippahs as they walked through Times Square.
Prosecutors said Amin recognized the group as Jewish, followed them for several blocks and made repeated antisemitic threats. After the men tried to leave, prosecutors said, Amin ran up behind the tourist and punched him in the back of the head. The blow caused redness, swelling and substantial pain.
Those details came from the Manhattan District Attorney’s original indictment announcement and statements made in court. The indictment was an accusation at the time. Amin’s later guilty plea established his criminal responsibility for third-degree assault as a hate crime, the single count resolved by the plea agreement.
The original indictment charged two counts each of first-degree stalking as a hate crime, third-degree assault as a hate crime and third-degree stalking as a hate crime, plus one count of second-degree aggravated harassment.
The public record reviewed for this article does not spell out why prosecutors accepted the reduced disposition, whether the victim supported the agreement or what sentencing range the parties discussed before the plea. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had not posted a separate sentencing release as of Thursday morning.
Court watchers who attended the sentencing criticized the 90-day term as too lenient. Their criticism is opinion, not a finding that the sentence violated the law or the plea agreement.
JNS reported that Amin smiled during the proceeding and made a two-finger gesture toward cameras. Judge Drysdale questioned him about the smile, according to people who attended court. Amin reportedly said through an interpreter that he wanted to look good in photographs.
A defendant’s demeanor can influence how a sentencing is received by victims and the public, but it does not change the charge of conviction. The legal outcome is a jail sentence for assault committed because of the victim’s perceived religion or national origin.
New York’s hate-crime law enhances an underlying offense when a person intentionally selects a victim, in whole or substantial part, because of a protected characteristic. In this case, the hate-crime element turned a misdemeanor assault into a felony conviction.
The case raises a direct accountability question for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office: what did prosecutors gain by resolving seven charged counts with one guilty plea and a 90-day sentence?
Plea agreements are common in New York courts. They can spare victims from testifying, resolve cases when evidence or witnesses create trial risks and conserve court resources. None of those general reasons confirms what drove this particular agreement.
The victim survived the attack, but the public record describes a man targeted while visiting New York because he and his friends were visibly Jewish. The sentence ends Amin’s prosecution. It does not answer every question about how the final punishment was chosen.
Sources
Manhattan District Attorney: Hate Crimes Indictment in Times Square Attack
Jewish News Syndicate: Judge Gives 90 Days for Times Square Attack
Times of Israel: New York Man Sentenced in Hate-Crime Assault
Leave a Reply