Suspected hate crime: Chabad man stabbed in NYC

An Orthodox Jewish man from the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement was stabbed in Manhattan’s Diamond District in an incident police are investigating as a possible antisemitic attack.

By World Israel News Staff

A visibly Jewish man was stabbed from behind in Manhattan’s Diamond District on Wednesday evening, prompting an investigation into a possible antisemitic hate crime as police searched for a female suspect who fled the scene.

The victim, a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch community from Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, was attacked at approximately 5:45 p.m. near Fifth Avenue and West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

According to preliminary reports, a woman believed to be in her 30s approached the man from behind, stabbed him in the back with a sharp object and escaped westward toward Sixth Avenue.

Emergency medical personnel from Hatzalah treated the victim at the scene before transporting him to Bellevue Hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition.

The precise weapon used in the attack has not been confirmed. While some initial reports described a knife, others indicated that the assailant may have used a needle or syringe.

Manhattan Shomrim, a Jewish community security organization, said it was working with the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate whether the assault was motivated by antisemitism.

According to eyewitness accounts cited in local reports, the woman walked past several other pedestrians before attacking the victim, who was readily identifiable as an Orthodox Jew because of his clothing.

Investigators are examining whether the victim was deliberately selected because of his Jewish appearance, although authorities have not established a motive.

“We are asking for the public’s assistance,” Manhattan Shomrim said, urging witnesses and anyone possessing video recordings of the incident to contact investigators.

The organization asked anyone who was in the Diamond District or Midtown area at the time and witnessed the incident, or who had relevant surveillance footage, to come forward.

The suspect was described as a white woman approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, wearing blue jeans, white sneakers and a dark sweater tied around her waist.

Police had not announced an arrest or publicly identified the victim as of Thursday’s initial reports.

The incident follows several other violent attacks involving Jewish victims in New York City in recent months.

In July, two men, including an Orthodox Jew wearing a kippah, were stabbed in separate attacks on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Police arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales, who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the assaults.

The Jewish victim was stabbed in the torso with a screwdriver after leaving synagogue services on Tisha B’Av, while another man was attacked nearby. Both survived.

In August, a visibly Jewish man was assaulted and robbed near West 47th Street and Sixth Avenue, close to the location of Wednesday’s stabbing. According to Manhattan Shomrim, the attacker shouted antisemitic slurs, stole the victim’s hat and punched him in the head.

The suspect in that incident was subsequently arrested, and authorities investigated it as an antisemitic hate crime.