Attacker shouting ‘allahu akbar’ stabs Jewish man with a screwdriver in NYC

2 victims, one non-Jewish, in stable condition after Upper West Side attack; City Council speaker says incident appears to be antisemitic

NEW YORK — An attacker stabbed a Jewish man while shouting “allahu akbar” in New York City on Thursday afternoon, the NYPD said, citing victim and witness statements.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said two victims were stabbed in separate attacks on the Upper West Side.

One of the victims was Jewish and one was Asian, Tisch said.

Tisch identified the suspect as 51-year-old Raul Morales, who was taken into custody at the scene. She said the NYPD was evaluating whether the attack was a hate crime, adding that “mental health may have been a factor.”

New York Assemblymember Micah Lasher, a Jewish representative of the area, was at the scene and told The Times of Israel that one of the victims was wearing a kippah.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the incident appeared to be antisemitic in nature.

“The fear in the Jewish community is real. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, regardless of their faith or identity,” Menin said in a statement.

The incident took place on Tisha B’av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar which is marked with prayer and fasting.

The Manhattan Shomrim neighborhood watch group said the assailant stabbed the victim with a screwdriver.

The first victim was stabbed at 84th street and Central Park West, and the second at 86th Street and Amsterdam avenue.

The second stabbing took place half a block away from a Jewish community center in an area home to a large Jewish population.

The NYPD received the first call about the incident at 1:31 p.m., a spokesperson said.

The site of each stabbing was roped off with police tape, officers were at the scene and a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Stickers on flagpoles next to the site of the stabbings included those reading “The people of Israel live” in Hebrew and an image of the late hostage Hersh Goldberg‐Polin.

An NYPD spokesperson said the two victims, aged 57 and 50, were stabbed in the torso and transported to Mount Sinai Medical Center in stable condition.

The victim’s rabbi said he spoke to the victim, who was “pierced in his right chest,” heard screams and then “everything went blank for him.”

The victim is in stable condition, Rabbi Allen Schwartz told The Times of Israel.

“He’ll be home before Shabbos,” he added.

The victim does not wish to be publicly identified because his elderly mother is in Israel, was already sleeping at the time of the attack, and he wanted to inform her of the incident himself, Schwartz said.

A Manhattan Shomrim operations coordinator said the group received around five phone calls immediately after the attack and dispatched members to the scene, where Hatzolah emergency response members and NYPD personnel were also on hand.

Shomrim members started canvassing the area and collecting witness statements, heard that the attacker had fled into nearby public housing and informed the police, who apprehended the suspect inside, several blocks north of the second attack.

“The NYPD was extremely fast and determined to get this guy,” the Shomrim coordinator said.

He said the Asian victim was not Jewish. Initial reports had said both men were Jewish.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in New York City.

There were 178 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes in the city between the start of the year and the end of last month, 55% of all hate crimes in the city, according to the NYPD. Jews are around 10% of the city population.

On Wednesday, a man shouting antisemitic slurs shoved a Jewish man in Brooklyn in a separate antisemitic attack. The victim, 64, suffered injuries that required hospital treatment.

The attacks will likely further pressure New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Jewish leaders have repeatedly warned that Mamdani’s anti-Zionist rhetoric was inflaming hatred against Jews and caused a danger.

A video Mamdani posted on Wednesday sparked widespread outrage and alarm among New York City Jews due to its incendiary accusations against Israeli forces in Gaza.

Mamdani said in a statement after the stabbings, “The NYPD’s initial investigation suggests that mental health may have been a factor. They are also evaluating these stabbings as potential hate crimes.”

“These hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city,” he said.

Jewish groups linked the attack to Mamdani’s rhetoric.

“We’re horrified — but not surprised — by today’s brutal attacks,” said the UJA-Federation of New York. “Words have consequences. Particularly, words from the Mayor of New York City.”

“If you can’t fully condemn calls to ‘globalize the intifada,’ you should be prepared to confront the normalizing of that rhetoric. Words inflame, embolden, and lead to violence against Jewish communities,” said Nily Rozic, an Israeli-American state assemblymember in the city.

“Today’s act of antisemitic violence in our quiet Upper West Side community will be remembered in the context of Mayor Mamdani’s inciteful rhetoric and vilification of the only Jewish State and its leaders,” said the Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations of the Upper West Side. “This must stop to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people in New York.”