The man who stabbed a Jewish barber with his own scissors in an antisemitic attack in Yonkers last summer has reached a plea deal that could see him spend up to six years in prison, the New York Post reported today (Monday).
The attacker, 34-year-old Ahmed al Jabali, was reportedly drunk when he entered the barber shop of Slava Shushakova on August 29 and entered into a heated argument with the barber over the Gaza war.
Shushakova told the New York Post following the incident that al Jabali shouted, “I want to kill you, you f–king Jew!"
“He cut me one time, and I asked him to stop and [leave] my store," Shushakova said. “He didn’t. And he said, ‘No, I have to finish [you], and after I’ll go. That’s what he wanted."
“He told me, ‘This is right to do,' and [that] he’s right, and he has a right as a Muslim to punish Jews," the victim added.
Last week, al Jalabi pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime. He was originally charged with attempted murder. He pleaded guilty to a lower-level crime. The judge presiding over the case has assured al Jalabi that he will receive a six-year sentence, less than half the maximum of 15 years that a conviction for second-degree assault as a hate crime could have carried.
“Hate has no home in Westchester County,” county District Attorney Susan Cacace said following the plea deal. “The rise in antisemitic hate over the last several years is disturbing and completely unacceptable."
“Today and every day, my office stands with the Jewish community of Westchester and will seek justice for victims of antisemitic violence,” Cacace said.