(Chris Wade, The Center Square) New York City authorities said the attacks of two people stabbed in separate incidents in the Upper West Side on Thursday are being investigated as possible hate crimes.
The New York City Police Department said it arrested Raul Morales, 51, after he stabbed an unidentified Asian male and a Jewish male in separate attacks. Police said both victims were taken to Mount Sinai-Luke’s Hospital and are expected to survive.
Witnesses told police Morales yelled Allahu Akbar or “God is Great” in Arabic during both attacks.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a preliminary investigation has determined there is no known connection between the attacker and the victims, or between the victims and each other.
She said the attacks are being investigated as hate crimes.
“While the perpetrator has no known mental health history with the NYPD, the initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor,” Tisch said in a statement.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a statement about two hours after the stabbing incidents, repeating information provided by the NYPD and saying that “hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin she was “absolutely sickened and furious by what appears to be an antisemitic stabbing” and noted that it comes after other attacks on Jewish people in New York City and elsewhere.
“While we await additional details to be confirmed, we know that what is happening in our city is abhorrent,” Menin posted on X. “The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, regardless of their faith or identity.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also took to social media to say she is “disgusted by what appears to be another senseless attack on New Yorkers simply because they’re Jewish.”
“The strength of New York has always been our ability to live together across every faith and background,” Hochul added. “Anyone who tries to tear that apart will be met with the full force of the law. New York will stand with our Jewish community today, tomorrow, and always.”
Israel’s diplomatic post in New York City also criticized the attacks but also blamed Mamdani for creating “a climate in which Jews are targeted.”
“I am appalled by the horrific antisemitic stabbing attack in New York. Appalled but sadly not surprised,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel Gideon Sa’ar posted on X.
“This violence did not happen in a vacuum,” he wrote. “Months of incitement against the Jewish state from Mamdani have helped create a climate in which Jews are targeted. Words have consequences. Mamdani must end the incitement, confront antisemitism with resolve, and act now to protect the city’s Jewish community.”
