Assault at rabbi's house in New York: six people were stabbed

A criminal armed with a machete attacked guests at the rabbi's house during the Hanukkah celebration. All of them were taken to hospitals, two were in critical condition. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo called the incident "domestic terrorism." The edition writes about it with the BBC.

What happened

The attack on the rabbi and his guests occurred at about 22 p.m. on Saturday, December 00, during the celebration of Hanukkah. This happened in the northern suburbs of New York, Moncy, where ultra-Orthodox Jews live.

“There were dozens of people in the house at the time,” Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) told the New York Times.

A criminal armed with a machete attacked those present. The attacker's face, according to Gestetner, was covered with a scarf. “He pounced on people as soon as he entered the premises. We didn't even have time to react, ”said 65-year-old Aaron Cohn, who was in this house at the time of the attack.

About the victims

The offender chose the son of a rabbi as his first victim.

After that, according to Kohn, the attacker tried to enter the synagogue, which is adjacent to the house of the rabbi, but people managed to close the door from the inside.

As a result of this attack, six people were stabbed. They were taken to hospitals, two were in critical condition. One of the victims, according to OJPAC, received at least six stabs. All of the wounded are Hasidic Jews.

About the attacker

Eyewitnesses described the attacker as a tall black man. He disappeared from the crime scene in a car, eyewitnesses gave license plates to law enforcement officers.

On Saturday around midnight, these license plates were recorded by a security camera after crossing the George Washington Bridge. Thanks to this, state police managed to detain a suspect in the Harlem area who was hiding in a Nissan Sentra car.

The authorities' response

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo called the masked man’s assault on a rabbi’s family an act of domestic terrorism. At a press conference, he called hatred based on racial and religious differences - “a cancer that spreads in America’s ruling political elite.” He also urged the state to introduce a law on internal terrorism to try for such crimes.

In addition, Cuomo described the attack as a highly disturbing incident. The governor added that this is not an isolated incident, pointing to the country's growing hostility towards members of a different race, religion, and also towards immigrants. “This is internal terrorism. These are people who intend to inflict massive evil, violence and spread fear based on race, color, creed. This is the definition of terrorism, ”he stressed.

Cuomo said the fact that the criminals were born in the United States does not mean that they are not terrorists. “They should be tried as domestic terrorists,” the governor said. - We will not let this poison spread. No one can defeat our country, but it can amaze itself. "

President of America Donald Trump has not yet spoken about the attack. At the same time, his daughter Ivanka, who professes Judaism, wrote in Twitterthat this attack is "an act of the purest evil." “While we pray for the victims of the attack, let the Hanukkah candles burn brightly in the midst of this darkness,” she wrote.

New York State Attorney General Laetitia James also expressed deep concern about the incident. “We have zero tolerance for manifestations of hatred of any kind, and we will continue to monitor this monstrous situation,” she wrote on Twitter.

The vicious attack of a rabbi in Monsey, NY last night was an act of pure evil.

As we pray for the victims, may the candles of Chanukah burn bright through this darkness.

- Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) December 29 2019 p.

The prosecutor also said the attack was a continuation of a series of attacks on members of the Jewish community in New York State in recent times.

What preceded this

Prior to the attack on the rabbi’s house in New York, there were several attacks and threats against the Jewish community. In this regard, on the eve of the New York police intensified patrolling in the predominantly Jewish areas of the city.

Even Israeli President Reuven Rivlin spoke about the problem of anti-Semitism: “The growth of anti-Semitism is not only a Jewish problem and certainly not only a problem of Israel. We must jointly fight this evil, which once again raises its head and once again poses a threat to the whole world, ”he said.

Regarding the attack in Montsy, de Blasio said that it is difficult to overestimate the fear that people now experience. “We will not allow this to become the norm. We will use all means to end such attacks for good, ”he said.

It is also worth noting that in mid-December, US President Donald Trump signed a decree on the fight against anti-Semitism. According to him, anti-Semitism falls within the scope of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits state funding of programs or organizations that advocate discrimination based on race or ethnic origin.

Anti-Semitic Crime Statistics

Starting on December 13, 2019, at least eight anti-Semitic actions took place in New York. This was announced last Friday by the New York City police hate crime investigation department.

So, in one of the cases, a man came to the office of the organization of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn and threatened to kill someone. In another case, a 30-year-old woman hit three Jews in the face.

New York City Police Chief Dermot Shea says hate crimes in New York are up 22% this year. “There are reports of swastikas appearing on the streets, of bricks thrown at windows, or of a (Jewish - Ed.) Woman being stripped of her wig in the street,” he said.

The situation in other states of America

The situation is not better in other states of America. So, the New Jersey state authorities are investigating The shootout at the Jewish supermarket in Jersey City in early December was "an act of domestic violence caused by both anti-Semitic sentiments and disobedience to law enforcement agencies." In that shootout, a policeman and three local residents died at the hands of two attackers.

On the subject: In the US, the number of attacks on Jews doubled: anti-Semitic incidents hit record

Another attack occurred in April 2019, when an armed criminal killed a rabbi and injured three people in a synagogue in San Diego.

Six months before this terrible incident, one of the bloodiest attacks in the history of the country happened - then the criminal shot people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; as a result, 11 people died, six more, among whom were four police officers, were injured.

As previously wrote ForumDaily New York:

• Just a day in New York happened 4 anti-Semitic attacks. The Anti-Defamation League, an American-Jewish organization that opposes anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance towards Jews, offers $ 10 for information about a man who hit another in the back of his head.
• In addition, Jewish parents of students at an elite private school in New York claim growing anti-Semitism on campus. They also accuse the administration of inability to recognize and solve the problem.