Florida student arrested, threatened to shoot and kill three Jewish students during Pro-Israel event: Police
A student at the University of Central Florida was arrested on Jan. 23 after allegedly threatening to shoot and kill three Jewish students.
A University of Central Florida student was arrested after he allegedly threatened to shoot and kill three Jewish students during a Pro-Israel rally on campus, according to police.
Seif Asi (pictured), 21, was arrested on Jan. 23 at the University of Central Florida’s John T. Washington Center and charged with three counts of intimidation and credible threat to a person wearing a religious item, FOX 35 reported.
Asi allegedly told police that he saw a group of students setting up the pro-Israel demonstration organized by Students Supporting Israel, which made him upset, police wrote in an arrest affidavit.
Asi proceeded to go the gym, but “he was so upset about it he decided to go back and confront the group after his workout,” the affidavit stated.
In an interview with police, Asi allegedly admitted to telling the students, “I’m going to kill you.”
”You won’t be here anymore when I come back and shoot you,” Asi said, according to the three students helping set up the pro-Israel demonstration.
According to police, Asi allegedly accused the students of “supporting a genocide, the deaths of Palestinians, and the death of his family members in Palestine.”
Individuals with Students Supporting Israel placed small Israeli flags in the ground to honor Jewish lives lost during the war with Hamas, police said.
Asi told police he’s Palestinian and has family in the region.
The suspect told police that he “is tired of seeing the Jewish supports on UCF campus and he referred to a pro-Israel march that was conducted last week on UCF campus,” according to the affidavit.
Police later confirmed that Asi didn’t own a firearm and one wasn’t in his possession.
Asi knew the students he threatened, police said. He apologized for making the threat and knew it wasn’t right.
”(Asi) said his emotions got the better of him and he requested to go and apologize to the students he threatened,” the affidavit stated. “(Asi) said he is tired of seeing students on campus defending the killing of Palestinian people.”
Police arrested Asi after the three students asked for him to be prosecuted and said that he ”willfully and maliciously intimidated (people) based on their religion and ethnicity” and “made a credible threat to victims that were intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias against the victims.”
In a statement to Campus Reform, SSI at UCF President Alex Rosenblum said the incident won’t discourage the organization’s pro-Israel advocacy.
“Last Tuesday, we set up 1,400 Israeli flags in the shape of one huge Israeli flag to memorialize the 1,400 people killed on October 7. A student walked up and started to argue with me. I told him that I’m happy to have a peaceful talk but if he intends to argue, I ask that he keeps on walking. He kept going on about how israel is committing genocide and whatnot and I asked him to just keep walking. He said something along the lines of “this won’t all be here when I come back and shoot you” and a student with us ran and got the cops, he was arrested, and now we’re here. SSI at UCF, although a little rattled, will not stop. We have a clear cut goal on our campus and that is to be a strong pro-Israel voice, during easy and hard times,” Rosenblum said.
UCF Chief of Police Carl Metzger said threats like this aren’t acceptable.
”At UCF, we all have the right to free expression — but violence, threats of violence, and unlawful harassment will not be tolerated,” Metzger said. “I hope our campus community will continue to come together to condemn hate and violence and to uphold the culture of compassion, understanding, and peace that we have all built together at UCF.”
