Florida Drops Charges Against Seif Asi
Decision by the State significantly disenfranchises its Jewish population
The State of Florida has dropped all charges against antisemite and hate criminal Seif Asi, according to one of the victims in the case.
The State Attorney’s office stated that Seif Asi’s threat was “conditional.” In other words, because Seif Asi presented his victims with two options - leave the area, or die - the victims were not sufficiently threatened for the State Attorney to bring charges.
Additionally, the State Attorney cited the fact that Seif Asi did not own a gun, despite threatening his victims with a gun, as another reason they were not interested in bringing charges. The fact that Seif Asi is perfectly able to purchase a gun - both legally and illegally - for use against Jewish people did not dissuade the State of Florida from dropping charges.
The State’s decision to allow an attempted Jew-killer to walk free directly threatens the safety of not only UCF Jews, but Orlando Jews as a whole. Seif Asi directly stated and then confessed to a police officer to making death threats against Jewish people at UCF.
By declaring “conditional” threats to be a form of acceptable conduct, the State has set a dangerous precedent: Jews no longer possess the right to be safe in public areas in Florida. As long as the attacker provides the option for their Jewish victim to leave prior to violence taking place, the State has declared death threats against Jewish people to be acceptable conduct. Florida Jews as a group should be extremely careful in public areas going forward, as threats made against Jews in the State of Florida will not be prosecuted.
Additionally, by citing Seif Asi’s present lack of gun ownership as an additional mitigating factor, the State of Florida has set another precent: as long as an attacker threatens you with a weapon that the attacker does not currently possess, the attacker will not be prosecuted. Whether or not the attacker is eligible to come into possession of that weapon is irrelevant to the State of Florida. If they do not have it at the time that the threat is made, they will not be penalized.
Both of these precedents togther have now made the State of Florida far less safe for Jewish people than most other states in the country. Threats of physical violence against Jews, within the conditions set forward by the State of Florida, are now fully permitted. The lack of a conviction for Seif Asi will embolden the State’s significant white supremacist and antisemitic populations, and we expect threats against Jews to escalate accordingly.
Jewish philosophers have long asserted that Gentile nations will never adequately protect their Jewish populations from harm. While the United States has long been a preferred home for Jewish people, it is becoming increasingly clear to American Jews that the United States is not immune to the same sociopolitical forces that have driven Jewish persecution for the past 2,000 years.
American Jews, and Florida Jews especially, should increase their vigilance when in public areas. Keep in mind that Jewish people are held to a separate set of standards than other racial and ethnic groups, and that laws which are freely applied to protect most people will not necessarily be applied to protect you.
This is a developing story. Further information will be published as it becomes known.