Israeli FM Blames NYC Mayor's Rhetoric for Manhattan Stabbing

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has blamed New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s rhetoric for the stabbing of two people on Manhattan’s Upper West Side on Thursday. The assailant reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar.”

The victims – a Jewish man and an Asian man – were hospitalized and are expected to survive, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on X.

Police arrested 51-year-old Raul Morales as the sole suspect. “Detectives are continuing to work the case and determine the motive, but according to victim and witness statements, Morales yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ during both attacks. The NYPD is currently evaluating whether this is a potential hate crime,” Tisch said.

Tisch added that although the suspect has no known history of mental illness, his mental state “may have been a factor.”

In a statement on X, Mamdani also said that witnesses and the victims reported hearing the attacker shout “Allahu Akbar,” adding that “these hateful and despicable attacks have no place in our city.”

Saar described the incident as “a horrific anti-Semitic stabbing attack,” accusing Mamdani of incitement.

“This violence did not happen in a vacuum. Months of incitement against the Jewish state from Mamdani have helped create a climate in which Jews are targeted,” Saar wrote on X.

He called on the mayor to “end the incitement, confront anti-Semitism with resolve, and act now to protect the city’s Jewish community.”

Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and called AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group, “monsters.” Some Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), described his remarks as anti-Semitic, while more than 700 rabbis and cantors across the US signed a letter last month urging him to apologize.

Mamdani has denied being anti-Semitic. “As mayor, I will always stand steadfast with our Jewish neighbors to root the scourge of anti-Semitism out of our city,” he said in November 2025 after swastikas were painted on a Jewish school.

He also defended his criticism of AIPAC. “I used the term [monsters] to describe all those who are preventing the birth of a new world, not solely AIPAC, but frankly super PACs at large, who are spending millions of dollars on deceptive and misleading ads that are blanketing the airwaves,” he said.

The US and other Western countries have seen an upswing in anti-Semitic incidents since the outbreak of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza in 2023, as well as the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran launched in February 2026.