Jewish Man Stabbed in Manhattan in Suspected Antisemitic Attack

The New York Police Department is investigating a suspected antisemitic hate crime after a Chabad Hasidic man from Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood was stabbed in the back by a woman in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday evening. The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition, while police continue searching for the suspect, who fled the scene.

The attack occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. on West 47th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in Manhattan's Diamond District. Security camera footage captured the woman approaching the victim from behind and stabbing him. The man can be seen attempting to move away, but he was unable to avoid the attack. The suspect then fled west toward Sixth Avenue.

According to reports, the woman may have used a needle or syringe, although police have not officially confirmed the type of object involved. American media reports describe the suspect as a white woman in her 30s, approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall. She was reportedly wearing a dark shirt, blue jeans, and white shoes, with a dark sweater tied around her waist.

According to Yanki Farber of the Behadrei Haredim news website, sources familiar with the investigation noted that the suspect passed several pedestrians who were not visibly Jewish without attacking them. This, together with the victim's distinctive Hasidic clothing, has raised suspicions that he was deliberately targeted because of his Jewish identity.

Volunteers from Hatzalah, the Jewish emergency medical service, provided initial treatment and transported the injured man to the hospital. NYPD detectives, the department's Hate Crime Task Force, and volunteers from the Manhattan Shomrim neighborhood safety organization are involved in efforts to locate the suspect.

The incident comes approximately three months after another suspected hate crime on Manhattan's Upper West Side, in which Raul Morales, 51, was arrested on suspicion of stabbing two men of Jewish and Asian descent outside an Orthodox synagogue.

Following that earlier incident, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar criticized what he described as growing anti-Israel incitement, stating: "I am shocked, but unfortunately I am not surprised. Months of incitement against the State of Israel by Mamdani helped create a reality in which Jews become a target."