Remember how a few weeks ago, an Israel-hater stormed a Big Apple subway car and lead a chant demanding that “Zionists” raise their hands to ID themselves?
Well, he has raised his hand and ID’d himself… as the perpetrator.
Bonus: His name is Anas.
The anti-Israel protester who allegedly stormed a Big Apple subway car and demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands was arrested Wednesday following a weeks-long manhunt, cops said.
Anas Saleh, 24, of Staten Island, turned himself in with his attorney at around 9.30 a.m. after the NYPD released a wanted poster last week with his face splashed across it in the wake of the hate-filled incident at Manhattan’s Union Square station.
Saleh was spotted wearing a face mask as he left the NYPD’s Transit Bureau District 2 in Lower Manhattan — flanked by several people who attempted to shield him from press photographers using scarves and black umbrellas.
He was charged with attempted coercion and released with a desk appearance ticket, authorities said.
Saleh, who is believed to have worked as a research tech at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Rhee Lab, was quickly outed as the alleged perp on social media, with Jewish activist groups also circulating his image on social media in a bid to track him down.
The school’s dean, Robert Harrington, addressed the antisemitic subway saga in a letter fired off to Cornell employees – but stopped short of mentioning Saleh by name or his arrest.
“We condemn antisemitism in the strongest possible terms. Hate speech or actions of any kind, whether anti-Semitic or Islamophobic, are not tolerated by our community,” Harrington said in the statement Wednesday.
“We are fully cooperating with the NYPD investigation, as well as conducting our own internal review, in the incident. If any employee is confirmed to be involved in this incident, appropriate action will be taken.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if Saleh was still employed there as of Wednesday, but his biography page on the lab’s website appears to have been deleted.
Saleh also appeared to have scrubbed his own social media presence last week before turning himself in to cops.
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Saleh was ordered to go to court on July 1 to face the charges, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
He faces up to a year in prison if convicted on the attempted coercion charge.
Here’s hoping Anas ends up in prison and finds it very hard going.
