What We Know About The Anti-Semitic Attack In Monsey, New York

On Saturday (December 28), a suspect stabbed five people in a rabbi’s house in Monsey, New York, as they were celebrating Hanukkah, the New York Times reported.


The suspect fled the scene and was captured about a hour immediately following the attack, any time his vehicle was located by a license plate reader, according to CNN. New York Police Department commissioner Dermot Shea told CNN reporters that officers handcuffed him without a struggle; he was later arraigned on five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary, Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel told CNN.


On Monday, federal prosecutors filed hate-crime charges against him, the Times announced. Michael Sussman, the suspect’s lawyer, instructed them New York Times that the suspect “had a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations” and “no known history of anti-Semitism.” The police have not disclosed a motive, and he has pled not guilty, according to the Times. His bail was set at $5 million, CNN reported.


Per Intelligencer, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called the attack an act of “violence spurred by hate” plus a “blatant act of domestic terrorism that sought to inflict violence, incite hate and generate fear.” In a statement released on Sunday (December 29), he added that “hostility based on religion, race, creed, immigration status is a American cancer that is spreading during the body politic. In New York, we are going to never tolerate such hate and hostility in any form, and we'll put an end to this cancer not just through our words, however through our actions.”


Monsey has a huge Conventional Jewish community; this is the second anti-Semitic stabbing incident in the area in recent weeks. On November 20, a Conventional Jewish man was stabbed while walking to synagogue, CNN reported.


“Again, here we are: mourning another act of senseless anti-Semitic violence committed against our community and praying for those who were the victims of this hate,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt instructed them Associated Press in a statement on Sunday (December 27). He pointed out that this is just the latest in a string of anti-Semitic attacks in the east coast, and “at least the 10th anti-Semitic incident to hit the New York/New Jersey area in just the last week. Any time will enough be enough?”


This attack comes just weeks right after two perpetrators targeted a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey, and killed four people, including one policeman, the New York Times reported. According to the ADL’s Tracker of Anti-Semitic Incidents, there have been nearly 20 anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. Since then. While anti-Semitic incidents decreased from 938 in 2017 to 835 in 2018, last year saw the deadliest attack on Jewish people in modern U.S. History as a perpetrator killed 11 people worshiping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, according to a FBI report released November 12.


In response to the attacks, Cuomo directed state police to “increase patrols and security in Conventional Jewish neighborhoods” across the state.


New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also mentioned he’d be increasing protections of Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn, the AP reported.


“The menorah represents the positive, light, the goal. Each person should remember that hope and act to build it,” de Blasio tweeted on Sunday (Dec. 29). “We as New Yorkers be able to stop the hatred. We’ve done it before — and in solidarity with our beloved Jewish brothers and sisters, we'll do it again.”