NEW YORK: A man, screaming “Allahu Akbar”, stabbed a Jewish man and another near a synagogue as fears of anti-Semitism and terrorism mount, according to police.
The Jewish man, Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, had left the Jewish Centre on Thursday afternoon when he was stabbed with a screwdriver, according to officials.
A rabbi said Grunhaus was attacked after he had attended services for a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of ancient temples in Jerusalem.
The other victim, who was of East Asian descent identified as Chok Sung and was stabbed with a knife nearby.
The attacks took place near Central Park, a major New York attraction.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the alleged assailant as 51-year-old Raul Morales and said police were evaluating whether it is a hate crime.
"According to victim and witness statements, Morales yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ during both attacks”, she said.
The victims are in a hospital and are expected to survive, she said.
A picture released by Manhattan Shomrim, a Jewish safety patrol, showed the alleged assailant as a tall, gaunt man with a closely shaved head wearing a camouflage-type T-shirt.
Mayor Zohair Mamdani acknowledged that “the perpetrator yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ during both attacks” but added in his post on X that the police department’s “initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor”.
“These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city”, he added.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin said in her post on X, “The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighbourhood, regardless of their faith or identity”.
A Jewish organisation linked the incident and other anti-Semitic attacks to Mamdani’s rhetoric against Israel.
The United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York noted, "These attacks came soon after Mayor Mamdani once again 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”, it added.
According to the police department, there were 152 confirmed hate crimes this year against Jews in the city till May, and during that month alone there was a 70 per cent spike in the anti-Semitic attacks compared to the previous year.
According to police, Morales was caught after he barricaded himself inside a nearby public housing flat.
Tisch commended “the bravery of a good Samaritan” who led police to the hideout of the alleged perpetrator.
In recent times, the city has seen at least two serious terrorist attacks.
In what authorities had called an Islamic State-inspired attack, two men shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they tried to bomb a protest by an anti-Islamist group outside Mamdani’s official residence in March.
On Monday, a man set a fire outside an immigration enforcement office in the city and fired shots from an air rifle.
--IANS
