In an act of what New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called “domestic terrorism,” five people were stabbed at a party celebrating Hanukkah when a man broke into a rabbi’s home in New York City Saturday. The Ramapo Police department has identified the suspect in custody as 37-year-old Grafton Thomas. According to police, Thomas faces five counts of attempted murder and one of count of burglary, NBC reported.
The attack occurred in the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, according to attendees there were over 100 people attending the party. All victims were taken to nearby hospitals with one remaining in critical condition, the Washington Post reported. The rabbi’s son was amongst those stabbed but is recovering.
A witness, Aron Kohn, told ABC News he saw the suspect enter the home, run past him, and attack people before running outside of the home towards an adjacent synagogue building, which happened to be locked."I saw him stabbing people," Kohn told ABC News. "He injured a guy, he was bleeding [from his neck], he was bleeding in his hand, all over."
Authorities found the suspect in a gray Nissan Sentra, hours after the attack in Harlem, Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said during a press briefing following the attack. He was then arrested by New York City police and transferred to Ramapo.
In a statement, Cuomo acknowledged the attack as the state’s 13th anti-Semitic incident in the last few weeks, he added that the state police hate crime task force will further investigate the attack.
“This is an intolerant time in this country. We see anger, we see hatred exploding. It is an American cancer in the body politic,” he said in a statement Sunday. “Let me be clear: anti-Semitism and bigotry of any kind are repugnant to our values of inclusion and diversity and we have absolutely zero tolerance for such acts of hate,” he added.
This attack follows a string of attacks against the Jewish community in the last few weeks. Earlier this week, a Florida man assaulted a man after making an anti-Semitic comment in Manhattan and on Friday three women were allegedly slapped by another woman because they were Jewish, ABC reported. Following the history of attacks, police patrol in neighborhoods and synagogues would increase with the rise of anti-Semitic violence, officials said Friday.
Anti-Semitic violence is not just increasing in New York though, Daily Kos reported on an anti-Semitic attack in which a shooter killed, six people, including a police officer, in New Jersey earlier this month. Data shows attacks against the Jewish community have increased by 40% between 2015 and 2017 and continue to rise with other marginalized communities.
Monday, Dec 30, 2019 · 10:48:54 PM +00:00 · Aysha Qamar
The suspect, Grafton Thomas, has been charged with a hate crime after a cellphone recovered from his car was found with hate motive.
According to the Washington Post, prosecutors filed a complaint Monday with references to Thomas’s cellphone and its online search history, in which he searched phrases like “Why did Hitler hate the Jews,” and for Jewish temples in his area. The complaint also included evidence from Thomas’s handwritten journals to prove the crime was motivated by hate and targeting Jews, despite his family stating he had “no known history of anti-Semitism.”
