Possible Hate Crime as Jewish, Asian Man Stabbed in New York City

A Jewish and an Asian man were stabbed in New York City on Thursday, which police have been investigating as a possible hate crime.

The attack occurred on Central Park West this afternoon near Manhattan’s Upper West Side, per the New York Times.

According to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter, the attacker walked up to the first man, Chok Sung, 57, on West 84th and Central Park West and stabbed him in the back. He then went to West 86th Street, the official said, where he approached another man, Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, and stabbed him once in the chest.

Police officers responding to a 911 call about an assault in the area arrived on West 84th Street to find Mr. Sung conscious, but with a wound on his torso. Officers then discovered Mr. Grunhaus two blocks north. Both men were taken by emergency medical workers to Mount Sinai’s Morningside location, where they are expected to survive, the police said.

Police arrested a person of interest on Thursday. The identity of the assailant has not yet been released. According to the New York Post, police are “investigating claims that the suspect said ‘Allah Akbar,’ meaning ‘God is the greatest’ in Arabic, before one of the attacks.”

The Jewish victim, Yezhak Grunhaus, was wearing a yarmulke at the time of the attack, having previously left the synagogue at Central Park West and West 86th Street.

“Nava Silton, who was speaking with the victim inside the Jewish Center on West 86th Street before the attack, said she ran out and spoke to two witnesses who heard the suspect say ‘Allah Akbar’ before the stabbing,” noted NY Post.

As JNS reported last month, hate crimes against Jews have seen a staggering surge in New York City over the past year.

“The New York City Police Department said that anti-Jewish hate crimes were up 70.8% in the city last month compared to May 2025,” noted the outlet. “It didn’t inform the public that, if it compared statistics from the months in a broader way, the increase was more than double that—150%.”

“Under New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who overturned many of his predecessor’s executive orders protecting Jews and Israelis hours into his tenure, the city has twice changed the way it reports hate crimes after the Big Apple recorded a 182% increase in antisemitic hate crimes in Mamdani’s first month on the job,” it added.