Hanukkah stabbing suspect charged with hate crimes
December 30, 2019
Investigators found anti-Semitic journal entries and internet searches while inspecting the suspect's home. The suspect's family has said he has a history of mental illness and had not been taking his medication.
Image: Reuters/A. Alfiky
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Authorities in the US State of New York said on Monday that they would be pursuing hate crimes charges against a man believed to have stabbed five people celebrating Hanukkah two days earlier.
37-year-old Grafton E. Thomas is expected to appear in court later in the day to face five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon and causing injuries. Adding hate crime charges to a violent offense can significantly increase the amount of possible jail time.
Thomas is accused of having gone on a stabbing rampage at the home of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Monsey, New York, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City. He injured five people with what has been described as a machete. Four of the five victims have been released from local hospitals, while the fifth was still undergoing treatment for a skull fracture.
Dozens of people had been celebrating Hanukkah at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg. The victims have not been named by police.
The criminal complaint against Thomas says that investigators found journals containing anti-Semitic language as well as internet searches about anti-Semitism, Adolf Hitler, and nearby synagogues.
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.
Image: Imago Images/S. Schellhorn
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The suspect's internet history also revealed that someone had read an article titled "New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here's What To Know."
'A long history of mental illness'
Thomas' family issued a statement saying that he had long suffered from mental illness.
"Grafton Thomas has a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations. He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime,'' his family said late Sunday in a statement issued by attorney Michael Sussman. "He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups.''
In court papers from an eviction in 2013, Thomas said he suffered from schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety and described his symptoms as "spontaneous and untamed.''
His aunt told the Associated Press that he had recently stopped taking his medication and had not been seen for a week.
On Sunday, Thomas pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of attempted burglary.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called the attack domestic terrorism, saying those carrying out anti-Semitic attacks were "trying to inflict fear. They are motivated by hate.”
