Obama’s ex-National Security Council chief Stuart Seldowitz denies he is Islamophobic after viral halal cart video

President Barack Obama’s former National Security Council chief denied he is an “Islamophobic guy” after being seen harassing a halal cart vendor on the Upper East Side and asking him if he rapes his daughter.

Stuart Seldowitz, 64, admitted “it’s probably me” in the viral videos shared to social media, as he offered a half-hearted apology.

“If I had to do it all over again, I would not have raised the religious aspect,” he told City & State Tuesday night.

“I don’t think I’m an Islamophobic guy,” he added. “I’ve spoken up for equal treatment of Muslims on numerous occasions with numerous different people.”

Seldowitz added that he regrets “the whole thing happened, and I’m sorry.

“But you know, in the heat of the moment, I said things that probably I shouldn’t have said.”

The former White House official is accused of harassing a street vendor on the corner of East 83rd Street and Second Avenue for nearly two weeks,  according to the Columbia grad student who posted the videos — filmed from the perspective of the vendor — to X.

Seldowitz is wearing different clothing in the clips, which appear to be filmed at different times of the day.

In the first video posted to social media, Seldowitz — who worked as a deputy director/senior political officer in the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs in the early 2000s — threatens to send a photo of the vendor to his “friends in Immigration” and Egypt’s security services who he said would torture him “when they deport you back to Egypt.” 

“Did you rape your daughter like Mohammed did?” he asks the vendor after snapping a photo of him and laughing, the footage shows.

The street vendor tells Seldowitz that he doesn’t speak English — seemingly to get him to leave — but instead, the ex-political aid berates the man, telling him he’s “ignorant” and that’s why he works in a food cart.

In another clip, Seldowitz holds up an Israel pin up to the window of the halal cart and questions the vendor if he has a permit and visa as he repeatedly asks him to leave.

“You support killing young children,” Seldowitz tells him, claiming that he supports Hamas.

“You kill children, not me. Go,” the vendor waves him off, according to the video.

“I didn’t kill children,” Seldowitz replies, adding: “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, it wasn’t enough.”

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 5,000 Palestinian children in Gaza since the current Hamas-Israel war began on Oct. 7, according to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

A third clip shows the former acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under the Obama administration asking the vendor if he was in the country legally before a construction worker steps in to stop the ongoing harassment.

Seldowitz later admitted, “I did have an argument with a food vendor. It is quite possible that it’s me.

“I mean I’ve not seen the video, but I believe it’s probably me.”

The NYPD said the commanding officer of the local precinct is aware of the videos and cops from the precinct “are monitoring the situation.”

Meanwhile, lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations, where Seldowitz was a consultant, announced that it cut ties with him after the videos of his shocking behavior went viral.

“The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm,” the company said in a statement.

David Schwartz, the founder and president of the firm, also said he would represent the food vendor pro bono if he wanted to sue Seldowitz.

“I’m absolutely outraged by this video.”

Seldowitz was also condemned by Mayor Eric Adams, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

“Islamophobia is hate. Plain and simple,” Adams tweeted. “This vile, disrespectful rhetoric has no home in our city. We reject it — and we’re glad to see we’re not alone.”

“This is hateful, disgusting and unacceptable,” Hochul said on X. “Vile rhetoric like this has no place in New York, and we condemn it in the strongest of terms.”

James also said it was “disgusting, hateful, and New York won’t tolerate it.”