(JTA) — Yosef Steynovitz, 32, of Thornhill, Ontario, a member of the Jewish Defense League, has been indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC for charges that include an assault on Kamal Nayfeh, a 55-year-old Palestinian-American community college teacher, outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference last March.
Steynovitz faces one count of assaulting a man with a dangerous weapon and one count of assaulting another man. The third count, assault with significant bodily injury, includes a hate crime enhancement for “anti-Arab bias” that could lead to an increased penalty if Steynovitz is convicted. The dangerous weapon referred to in the indictment is a pole, as well as a shoe, both used in the attack on Nayfeh. Steynovitz will be arraigned in court in the District of Columbia on January 3rd.