NYC Pro-Palestine Activist Tarek Bazrouk Sentenced to Prison

On October 28, 20-year-old New York City pro-Palestine activist Tarek Bazrouk was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit hate crimes, nearly the maximum sentence according to federal sentencing guidelines.

Bazrouk has been imprisoned since his arrest in May 7, after federal agents raided his house and was denied bail by the federal judge overseeing his case, Judge Richard M. Berman.

On June 11, Bazrouk plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes as part of a plea deal with the federal government.

Zionists Judge Anti-Zionism

From the start, Judge Berman made his sympathy with the prosecution clear, stating that Bazrouk attacked three Zionist counterprotesters “unprovoked” over the course of several months solely because Bazrouk, who is Palestinian, “hates Jews”.

While the judge repeatedly stated that the “rules being applied in this case… are applicable to everyone”, the indictment of hate crime charges for Zionist violence against Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists has hardly occurred.

Even in high profile acts of Zionist violence against pro-Palestine activists, many such cases have not resulted in hate crime charges: the shooting of three Palestinians wearing Keffiyehs in Vermont in November 2023, the violent attack by a Zionist mob on the UCLA Palestine solidarity encampment in April 2024, the lynch mob of Zionists stalking and attacking protesters and a passerby in Brooklyn in April 2025, to name a few—none of these have resulted in hate crime charges, and only minimal prosecution in the cases of mob violence.

The judge and prosecution’s arguments that the Zionists were attacked “unprovoked” is laughable to anyone who has ever attended a pro-Palestine protest, where Zionist clowns show up for the sole reason to harass pro-Palestine activists.

The Nazi-Zionist “victims”, including the co-chair of an organization calling itself “Columbia University’s pro-Israel public affairs committee,” spoke during the sentencing, repeating similar nauseating tales of fearing for their ability to continue advocating for genocide.

The judge and prosecution justified the harsh sentence in part to establish “general deterrence”, aiming the sentence at the Palestine solidarity movement.

Defense Council Seeks Leniency Through Appeasement

Through appeasement of the prosecution’s arguments, flattering the judge, and denunciations of violence against those supporting genocide, the defense hoped to mitigate Bazrouk’s sentence. This placed the defense in a position to accept and repeat the same Zionist lies that got Bazrouk convicted in in the first place, leaving their hands tied. While it remains questionable whether such a strategy helps the defendant given that Bazrouk received the near-maximum sentence within the guidelines, agreeing to and repeating such Zionist criteria is harmful to the Palestine solidarity movement and reinforces state repression of pro-Palestine activists as “antisemitic”.

The increase use of hate crime charges against pro-Palestine activists is part of the reactionization of the state, which brings down every law it can—including laws created in the context of ultra-reactionary and fascist civilian terror—against anti-imperialist activists. Bazrouk’s case follows a trend of hate crime charges brought against pro-Palestine activists, such as in the Tarrant 2 case in Texas for painting a pro-Palestine slogan, and two photojournalists in NYC who captured pro-Palestine acts of protest, among others. Such a trend is set to increase, with mayoral front runner Zohran Mamdani promising to increase funding for hate crime investigations by 800%.

Photo: Tarek Bazrouk.

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