Last week two young brothers, Yasin Elsamak, 22, and Ali Elsamak, 15, were assaulted by Egyptian Mission staff during a protest in Manhattan. Video footage captured by a protester, a friend of the brothers, shows the two being dragged into the Mission. In the video, Yasin is seen being struck in the neck and beaten with a chain, while Ali is pinned against the wall.
The incident follows the alleged leak of an audio recording in which Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty is reportedly heard instructing Egypt’s ambassador in The Hague to “grab” and “drag” protesters into their diplomatic buildings. A video on social media shows one of the staff members at the NYC Mission later admitting the instructions to abuse the youth came from Abdelatty.
Despite being the victims of the attack, the NYPD arrested the brothers and charged them with assault. Ali initially faced charges of third-degree assault and/or strangulation, which were later dropped following a family court appearance. Yasin, however, still faces a second-degree assault charge.
“Our sons were kidnapped and beaten on American soil, and then the officers of the United States of America came to arrest my sons,” the brothers’ father said.
The protest outside the Egyptian Mission is part of a growing wave of international demonstrations demanding that Egypt open the Rafah crossing to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warehouses in Egypt and Jordan are stocked with enough food, medicine, and hygiene supplies to fill more than 6,000 trucks.
Egypt has kept the Rafah border tightly controlled in collusion with Israel, citing security concerns. However, Palestine solidarity activists accuse Cairo of using the crossing as political leverage, effectively sealing off Gaza’s only southern entry and exit point amid Israel’s escalating genocide. As international pressure on Egypt mounts, the assault at the New York Mission has drawn further scrutiny to Egypt’s collusion with Israel.
Demonstrations have been ongoing outside the Egyptian Mission and are held daily at the United Nations, with protesters demanding that Egypt open Rafah and end its complicity in Israel’s blockade of Gaza. A statement by Within Our Lifetime (WOL)—a prominent Palestine solidarity organization in NYC—condemned the attack, calling it “an escalation of repression by the Sisi regime, extending its brutality to U.S. soil.”
WOL announced that daily protests at the United Nations will continue through September and has put out a call for a national march on the UN General Assembly in NYC on September 23, demanding immediate international action to end the genocide in Gaza.
Header Photo: Screen grab at the top shows Egyptian foreign minister giving instructions for diplomatic staff to assault protesters. The bottom video shows Egyptian Mission staff in New York City abducting two youths before beating them. Credit: husam_khaled7 on Instagram.
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