| When culture wars are not stopped, the next stage is lurid crime. See here. |
[Townhall] The home of an Ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Monsey, New York, was the scene of a violent knife attack Saturday night that has reportedly left several people injured. According to reports, a man entered the home around 10 p.m. during a Hanukkah party and began stabbing people before fleeing the scene in a vehicle. At the time of this reporting, the suspected attacker was still at large.
The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council for the Hudson Valley region tweeted reports about the incident. According to the reports, five people were treated for stab wounds after being transported to nearby hospitals. One of the victims was reportedly stabbed at least six times.
The New York Police Department is currently investigating multiple attacks that took place this past week that were possibly motivated by anti-Semitism.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that many Jewish families in New York City have close ties to Monsey and said he has longtime friend who are now "fearful to show outward signs of their Jewish faith."
| Update from the Daily Mail at 10:55 a.m. ET: |
Black man, 37, is arrested for 'storming into a rabbi's home with a machete and stabbing five people' during a Hanukkah party in what NY's Governor Cuomo says is an 'act of domestic terrorism'
- The attack occurred in the small, predominantly Jewish hamlet of Monsey, New York, at about 10pm Saturday
- The suspect was identified as 37-year-old African-American Thomas Grafton
| ...update from g(r)omgoru’s link: his name is actually Grafton E. Thomas... |
of Wurtsboro
...a known wolf who has a small but bushy beard in the photo at the link, so may or may not be a Lion of Islam...
- Grafton allegedly stormed into the home of Rabbi Chaim Leibush Rottenberg, where roughly 60 people had gathered for a candle-lighting ceremony for the seventh night of Hannukah
- Witnesses said the suspect wildly swung a large knife, stabbing five before he was chased out of the home
- He then tried to enter the neighboring Congregation Netzach Yisrael-Kosson synagogue before fleeing in a Nissan Sentra
- NYPD officers arrested the suspect 30 miles away in Harlem about two hours later
- State troopers were later seen marching Grafton out of the precinct in handcuffs before transporting him back to Rockland County, where he faces five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary
- Local Hasidic community officials said the five victims, all Hasidic, were hospitalized, two in critical condition
- Governor Andrew Cuomo branded the incident an act of domestic terrorism on Sunday morning
The Guardian Angels, a private, unarmed crime-prevention group, said it would start patrolling New York City's Brooklyn borough on Sunday following a series of anti-Semitic attacks.
Curtis Sliwa, who founded the organization in 1979 in New York City, said the patrols would start at noon in the Crown Heights neighborhood and expand to Williamsburg and Borough Park later in the day.
Sliwa said local leaders of the Lubavitch Hasidic movement asked for his group's help, and he believes Guardian Angels patrols will halt the violence.
"We’re a visual deterrence in our red berets and our red satin jackets," he said. "Nobody’s going to commit an attack when we're around."
If they do, he said, "We’ll physically restrain the persons responsible, make a citizen's arrest, and hold them until the police arrive." |