Prefer Jewish News on Google
An assailant on Thursday stabbed two victims, one of whom was visibly Jewish, in an area of Manhattan’s Upper West Side known for its Jewish institutions.
Police said two male victims, aged 57 and 50, were in stable condition and being treated for stab wounds to the torso. One was Jewish and one was Asian, police said.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Thursday evening that the force had arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales in connection with both assaults and that he had yelled “Allahu Akbar” during both attacks, according to multiple witnesses and a victim.
“The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime,” Tisch said, noting, “Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine motive.” No other assailants are being sought.
Rabbi Allen Schwartz of the neighbourhood’s Congregation Ohab Zedek told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that one of the victims was a congregant who is visibly Jewish and wears a kippah.
Schwartz, who is in Israel, said he spoke to the congregant on the phone and that he is “alert.”
“He may go home before Shabbos,” Schwartz said. He said the victim, who was traumatized, did not remember the assailant yelling “Allahu Akbar.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the stabbings “horrifying” in a statement on Thursday evening, noting that the perpetrator allegedly yelled “Allahu akbar” during both attacks.
Nava Silton told JTA she was with the victim Schwartz had spoken to at the Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue on 86th street, for afternoon prayers.
Minutes after the victim left the synagogue, Silton said she heard there was an attack, but by the time she got to the scene, the victims had been taken to hospital.
She said the victim did not want his name published.
Silton visited the victim in the hospital. He told her that a screwdriver had been plunged into the right side of his chest and he pulled it out himself, afraid that he’d keel over and fall onto it. “He’s just praying that his medical condition does not get worse,” Silton said.
Though police have not determined a motive, Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote that the stabbing “appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they’re Jewish.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin wrote that she is “absolutely sickened and furious by what appears to be an antisemitic stabbing” on Thursday.
In her statement, Tisch wrote that “the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor,” though the alleged perpetrator “has no known mental health history with the NYPD.”
Meanwhile, some critics of Mamdani have tied the attack to the New York City mayor’s sharp criticism of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In a video on Tuesday, New York’s Mayor described Netanyahu as a war criminal and referred to Israel’s “genocide” in the Gaza Strip. In his video, the Mayor said: “While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people.”
In response to Mamdani’s video, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Senior Rabbi at New York’s Central Synagogue, published a statement addressed to the Mayor, describing how “you say you want to keep the Jews of New York City safe. But safety is not just about providing extra protection at parades and synagogues. Safety is about creating a climate in which Jews do not need to feel maligned or indicted by the city’s leaders, where we do not need to feel there is a bullseye on our backs…we need you to stop using rhetoric that demonises Jews and the Jewish state and helps create the environment in which threats and violence flourish.”
Inna Verkov, a Republican City Council member, responded to news of the stabbing attack by saying that “this comes a day after Mamdani incited more violence against NYC’s Jews. @NYCMayor you got blood on your hands!” Vernikov initially wrote to the mayor, “F– YOU!” She deleted the expletive in a since-edited version of the post.
Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s minister of foreign affairs, wrote that the attacks “did not happen in a vacuum.”
“Months of incitement against the Jewish state from Mamdani have helped create a climate in which Jews are targeted,” Sa’ar said.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, charged Mamdani with “putting Jewish lives in danger in New York.”
Meanwhile, UJA-Federation of New York also explicitly called out Mamdani, whom it said “used his official platform to viciously attack Israel, the only Jewish state.”
“We cannot ignore the dangerous climate created when elected leaders relentlessly portray Israel — and, by extension, the many Jewish New Yorkers who feel a deep connection to it — as uniquely evil and illegitimate,” the group wrote.
Keep community journalism free.
Jewish News is free for everyone. No paywall. No barriers. Just trusted journalism for anyone who wants to stay connected to Jewish life in Britain.
If you value that, please support us.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help keep our journalism free and accessible to all.
Every day, we report on the issues that matter to our community. We celebrate achievements, support charities, challenge antisemitism and ensure Jewish voices are heard more widely.
From as little as £5 a month, you can help us continue to:
- Report on the stories shaping Jewish life in the UK and beyond
- Bring our community together through shared stories, events and campaigns
- Celebrate the people, culture and moments that define our community
- Support organisations doing vital work across Jewish Britain
You can make a one-off donation or become a regular supporter. Every contribution helps keep our journalism free, independent and accessible to all.
If everyone who values Jewish News gave a small amount, it would make a real difference to our future.
