Borgen was kicked, punched, maced, and beaten to the ground by a group of several men on Thursday while on his way to attend a pro-Israel rally in Manhattan.
Joseph Borgen, a Jewish man who was brutally assaulted on Thursday as pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed in New York City’s Times Square, said his face felt like it was “on fire” after the attack. Speaking to multiple news outlets after the incident, Borgen described being kicked, punched, maced, and beaten to the ground by a group of several men. The suspects also reportedly directed antisemitic comments toward him. “They were macing me for like a minute straight,” he said. “Kicked me, punched me, beat me with crutches, hit me with flags. My whole face… felt like it was on fire for hours,” Borgen told CBS2. The attack on Borgen, a 29-year-old who was wearing a yarmulke and kippah at the time of the assault, occurred while he was walking alone to attend a pro-Israel rally on 47th and Seventh Avenue. “I was literally just in a fetal position, trying to guard my head and face, literally just trying to make it out of there alive,” he told The Daily Mail. “I thought I was going to die. I thought I was really going to die.” Borgen told the outlet that he never imagined he would have to fear for his life like that in New York City.
