The family of one of the victims of an attack on a Chanukah party in Monsey, New York have said that “doctors do not have high hopes for him”.

In a press conference held outside their home on Thursday, members of Josef Neumann’s family told the press that “the prognosis is not good. He sustained multiple injuries.

“If he wakes up, he may never be able to walk, talk or even process speech again.”

Mr Neumann is in a critical condition after Saturday night’s attack.

The alleged attacker Grafton Thomas has been charged with attempted murder after wounding five people gathered at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg.

Nicky Kohen, Mr Neumann’s youngest daughter, said: “As a family, we believe that God has a plan, and we guess he’s a big part of it.”

Ms Kohen also said that, at the time of the conference, Mr Neumann was undergoing a tracheotomy to help with his breathing and feeding, and that he was in a coma.

“He has a fractured skull, he’s been sliced like through his neck, he has a shattered arm, and the other ones just seem minor already compared to all of this,” she said.

In a statement earlier in the week, the family said that the knife had penetrated “directly into the brain”, leaving doctors to expect him to have permanent brain damage.

According to charges filed by federal prosecutors, journals recovered from Mr Thomas’s home made references to Jews and antisemitism.

Ms Kohen made a direct plea in the press conference: “It has to stop. I’m begging you if you are watching this, please stand up and stop this hatred.

“It cannot keep going on, we want our kids to go to school and feel safe, we want to go to our synagogues and feel safe, we want to go to groceries and malls and feel safe.

“I’m sure you can all agree with me on that part.”