Five Charedium have been injured in a mass stabbing at a rabbi's house during a Chanukah celebration in New York state.
The attack happened in Monsey at around 9.50pm on Saturday. The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council said those injured were taken to local hospitals.
Two of them were injured critically, the OJPAC said, and one was stabbed six times. The attacker concealed his face with a scarf.
At 9:50 this eve, a call came in about a mass stabbing at 47 Forshay Road in Monsey (Rockland County; 30 miles North of NYC). It's the house of a Hasidic Rabbi. 5 patients with stab wounds, all Hasidic, were transported to local hospitals.
— OJPAC Hudson Valley (@OJPACHV) December 29, 2019
The suspect fled the scene by car but was later stopped and taken into custody.
The rabbi's house is next door to his shul. One of his children was among those stabbed.
OJPAC co-founder @YossiGestetner speaking to the media about the incident in Monsey alongside @bernstein_evan of the @ADL_NYNJ. pic.twitter.com/KIAlFNsA85
— OJPAC Hudson Valley Region (@OJPACHV) December 29, 2019
"The house had many dozens of people in there," co-founder of OJPAC for the Hudson Valley region Yossi Gestetner told the New York Times.
One 65-year-old witness told the paper: "I was praying for my life. He started attacking people right away as soon as he came in the door. We didn't have time to react at all."
The motive was unclear but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he had tasked the state police's hate crimes task force to investigate.
He said: "Let me be clear: antisemitism and bigotry of any kind are repugnant to our values of inclusion and diversity and we have absolutely zero tolerance for such acts of hate."
Monsey, which is about 30 miles north of New York City, is home to a large strictly Orthodox community.
The attack comes three weeks after five people were killed in a shooting at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, near New York City.
The dead included the two men suspected of carrying out the attack in what authorities now believe was an antisemitic hate crime.
