One attacker, who was armed with a machete or long knife, was responsible for stabbing five people while the festivities of Hanukkah were going on. This took place in the home of one rabbi in the State of New York. Andrew Cuomo, the governor, has termed this as a horrible act associated with “domestic terrorism.” The Council of Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs further reported that the attacker was wearing a scarf and he ran away as soon as he stabbed the victims in a Monsey house, Rockland County, 30 miles north of the City of New York, on a Saturday Night.
All the injured victims rushed to the nearest health center. The council stated that two victims were in a bad condition and one among these two was known to be stabbed at least 6 times. It reports that the son of the rabbi was also among the stabbed people.
The suspect
The suspect is Grafton Thomas, aged 38, and he is from Greenwood Lake. He was seen to flee from the crime scene and he fled to Manhattan. He was finally arrested from Harlem. When he was arrested, he was covered completely in blood. Thomas had been charged with murders earlier and also, burglary. When taken to the court on Sunday, it reports that he pleaded guilty.
The stabbing took place after several incidents associated with making the Jews of that region a target. This includes the anti-Semitic shooting at a particular grocery store in one neighbouring city of NJ. The city of New York was responsible for increasing the presence of police in a few Brooklyn neighbourhoods that have great populations of Jews. This happened after the continuous anti-Semitic incidents of the previous week.
The attack
The attack took place at the residence of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, who is also responsible for leading the synagogue. There were many people present at that time because of the ceremony of candle lighting on the holy 7th day of the Hanukkah festival.
During the incident, Aron John, Marcus J Debaise who was 65, stated that he was continuously praying for his safety. The attacker started to attack people as soon as he walked inside the house. Nobody got any time to react. They saw him taking a knife out and the knife was extremely long, probably the size of one big broomstick.
Another person, Yisroel Kraus, stated that he tried to escape from the back. He further said that when the attacker came, the place had started emptying. If he would have visited the place just before ten minutes, it would have been completely packed. He stated this as the miracle of Hanukkah.
The governor of New York reported that this incident was the thirteenth attack. He also mentioned that this is American Cancer. This is nothing but a huge act of domestic terrorism. It can only be hoped that the state of New York will take appropriate precautions for protecting the Jewish communities to prevent further attacks or domestic terrorism, as termed by the governor himself.