An attendee at a New York City fundraiser for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Monday night told a fellow attendee that beating up a pro-Israel demonstrator outside the rally was “cathartic” and “the next best thing” to being able to punch an Israeli.

According to video of the incident posted on social media by both men involved, the two mutually agreed to fight and that they would not report the incident to the police.

The El-Sayed supporter, an anti-Israel Jewish actor and activist named Jacob Berger, then bragged about the incident to a fellow attendee at the El-Sayed event, in an audio recording obtained by Jewish Insider. Berger does not appear to have any formal affiliation with the El-Sayed campaign and was not a host or organizer of the fundraiser.

Berger posted clips from the fight with the caption, “had to rock a zionist face” with a smiling emoji. Asked about the fight, Berger claimed in the recording that he and the other man have a history of antagonism from past demonstrations and confrontations, and described the fight gleefully.

“It’s cathartic because I want to beat the s*** out of these guys every single day. He cheers on genocide, he cheers on babies being blown up,” Berger said in the recording. “F*** you — I was literally putting all my rage into my fists there. … I can’t punch an Israeli right now, but that’s the next best thing.”

Asked by JI whether the recording was authentic, Berger sent a vulgar response, dismissing the question.

“Abdul believes everyone has a right to express their opinion without fear of violence,” campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner said in a statement to JI.

Berger has recently posted a series of videos mocking the FlyDubai hijacking, and suggested in another video during the U.N. General Assembly that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials should go “back to Poland where they belong.”

Berger was also a member of the 2025 Gaza flotilla and was detained by Israel. He claims to have been banned from Israel. He moved to Egypt at some point in recent years, and has been accused of misconduct by other anti-Israel activists.

As El-Sayed works to rally members of the Jewish community who remain skeptical of him and his campaign, a recent letter from Michigan Jews in support of the candidate was also found to include a series of fringe figures holding various extremist views.