US President Donald Trump has urged Americans to unite against the "evil scourge of anti-Semitism" after a man stabbed five people at a rabbi's house in New York during Hanukkah celebrations on Saturday.
Image: Reuters/E. Munoz
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US President Trump on Sunday responded to the mass stabbing at an Orthodox rabbi's house in the suburb of Monsey late Saturday, describing the attack as "horrific."
"We must all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism," Trump said on Twitter.
The Saturday attack injured five people during a Hanukkah celebration in an Orthodox Jewish community north of New York City.
The stabbing on the seventh night of Hanukkah left one person critically wounded, according to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. The rabbi's son was also wounded in the attack, he added.
Police arrested a suspect, who they identified as a 37-year-old from New York, hours after the attack. He was arraigned on Sunday and remains jailed after pleading not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one of burglary. The FBI is working with local authorities on the investigation.
Monsey, an area with a large population of Orthodox Jews, is about one hour north of New York City.
The Hanukkah stabbing was the latest in a series of violent attacks against Jews in the region. On December 10, an hours-long shootout at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey killed four people. Authorities said the attack was fueled in part by anti-Semitism.
Last month in Monsey, a man was stabbed while walking to a synagogue.
Governor Cuomo said Saturday's attack was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since December 8. "This is violence spurred by hate, it is mass violence and I consider this an act of domestic terrorism,'' Cuomo said. "Let's call it what it is," he added.
New York Attorney General Leticia James said she was "deeply disturbed by the situation unfolding in Monsey."
"There is zero tolerance for acts of hate of any kind and we will continue to monitor this horrific situation," James said in a tweet.
Attacks on synagogues in Germany
The attempted attack on a synagogue in Halle is not the first in recent years. Even after the horrors of the Nazi era, anti-Semitic incidents occur in Germany — on individuals, memorials and Jewish places of worship.
Image: Imago Images/S. Schellhorn
Cologne, 1959: Swastikas and hate speech
In December 1959, two members of the Deutsche Reichspartei (DRP) right-wing extremist party painted swastikas and the words "Germans demand: Jews out" on the synagogue in Cologne. Anti-Semitic graffiti emerged across the country. The perpetrators were convicted, and the Bundestag passed a law against "incitement of the people," which remains on the books to this day.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/Joko
Lübeck, 1994: First arson attack on a temple in decades
People across the world were horrified at the March 1994 attack on the synagogue in the northern city of Lübeck. For the first time in decades, a synagogue in Germany burned. Four right-wing extremists were eventually convicted of arson. The day after the fire, 4,000 locals took to the streets under the slogan "Lübeck holds its breath." In 1995, the same synagogue was hit by another arson attack.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Büttner
Essen, 2000: Stones hurled into Old Synagogue
Armed with paving stones, more than 100 Palestinians from Lebanon attacked the Old Synagogue in Essen in October 2000. The incident occurred after a demonstration against "violence in the Middle East." A police officer was injured. Mahmud Alaeddin, deputy head of the general delegation of Palestine in Germany, distanced himself from the attack.
Image: picture-alliance/B. Boensch
Düsseldorf, 2000: Arson and stones
A 19-year-old Palestinian and a 20-year-old Moroccan damaged Düsseldorf's New Synagogue with incendiary devices and rocks in October 2000 as "revenge" against Jews and the state of Israel. "We need the respectable people to rebel" against anti-Semitism, then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder demanded. The federal and state governments and various NGOs launched campaigns to counter extremism.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Weihrauch
Mainz, 2010: Molotov cocktail attack shortly after inauguration
Shortly after being inaugurated in September 2010, an arson attack hit the New Synagogue in Mainz during the night of October 30. The spectacular Deconstructivist building by architect Manuel Herz was erected on the site of the former main synagogue that was set on fire during the Kristallnacht, the Nazis' national night of pogroms, in 1938.
Image: picture-alliance/akg/Bildarchiv Steffens
Wuppertal, 2014: Incendiary devices
In July 2014, three young Palestinians hurled incendiary devices at the front door of the synagogue in Wuppertal. In a highly controversial decision, the court ruled there was "no evidence whatsoever" of anti-Semitic motives. Jews in Germany and the foreign media were outraged. The chairman of the Jewish Community Wuppertal declared the ruling as "an invitation to further crimes."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Seidel
Berlin, 2019: Knife-wielding attacker
A man wielding a knife climbed over a barrier at Berlin's New Synagogue on the eve of Shabbat on October 4, 2019, during the holy period between the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Security personnel overwhelmed the attacker, whose motive remained unclear. Police released him afterwards, a decision Jewish leaders called "a failure" of justice.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Avers
Halle, 2019: Shooter attempts mass murder on Yom Kippur
About 80 people were in the synagogue on Wednesday afternoon to observe Yom Kippur, the Jewish calendar's holiest day. The alleged attacker reportedly attempted to shoot his way into the synagogue but was prevented by a safety door. Two passersby were shot to death and two were injured. The suspect, who has a history of right-wing extremist, anti-Semitic, and misogynist rhetoric, was detained.
