Upper West Side residents took to the streets in anger Sunday over recent hate crime stabbings in the area, charging that rhetoric from Mayor Zohran Mamdani contributed to the violence.
Members of the Jewish community and conservative activist groups — including those seeking public office — gathered together on Amsterdam Avenue between 84th and 85th Street for several hours on the morning of July 26. Wrapping themselves in the American and Israeli flags, locals say they have been left in fear following Thursday’s attacks.
A local mother who gave her name as Dina told amNewYork that she doesn’t want her daughter wearing her Star of David necklace when she is alone out of fear she will be attacked.
“She feels proud. She doesn’t want to be afraid, but you know, we told her she can wear it as long as she walks with us on the street, but she cannot wear it when she walks alone,” Dina said. “We have a group class in the school, and parents are actually organizing to do a self-defense class for kids and adults. It breaks my heart that that’s where we are today.”
According to police sources, 51-year-old Raul Morales was tracked to a NYCHA building after he allegedly went on a stabbing spree. about 1:30 p.m. on July 23, stabbing a 40-year-old Asian man walking near the corner of West 84th Street and Central Park West. Morales allegedly approached the bystander from behind and stabbed him in the back with a knife, leaving the blade jutting from his skin.
Two blocks away on West 86th Street, a 50-year-old Jewish man was stabbed in the chest by the same suspect, authorities said. This time, the suspect’s weapon of choice was a screwdriver.
In both instances, sources close to the investigation said, the perpetrator allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar,” which is Arabic for “God is great.” Both of his attacks have since been upgraded to hate crimes.
Those at the rally say they lay some of the blame at the feet of Mamdani for recent criticisms Hizzoner made about Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that the Prime Minister of Israel is not welcome in New York. Some members of the Jewish community feel as though these statements put them at risk.
“I’m here to support the rights of the Jewish people to live in safety in the city of New York, the rights of our children to go to Jewish schools, the rights of people to go to houses of worship safely, and we see what has happened as a result of Mamdani’s words. We saw stabbings this week, and I’m concerned that this is just the beginning of real horror in this city,” local resident Arthur said. “I live on the Upper West Side. I plan on taking a self-defense course now. I’m not sure about getting a license for a gun, but that’s crossing my mind. I think Jews have to learn how to defend themselves.”
On Saturday, the mayor was asked about the hate crimes and stated that antisemitism is unacceptable and must be driven out.
“There is no tolerance for hate in this city. There’s no tolerance for bigotry. We know that while Jewish New Yorkers constitute a minority in the city, they continue to comprise a majority of the victims of all hate crimes across the five boroughs—and that is unacceptable,” Mamdani said. “It is work that we must do to uproot antisemitism out of the five boroughs, and that includes by making it clear that there’s no tolerance for it, and that this is a city that will not only look to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe, we also look to celebrate and cherish Jewish New Yorkers.”
The mayor’s office says it has supersized the budget for preventing hate crimes—whose victims are disproportionately Jewish—increasing the budget for the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes from $3 million to $26 million, a nearly ninefold increase.
A counter-protest set itself up just across the street, and a pro-Palestine and self-described anti-Zionist Jewish group came to the defense of the mayor.
“They are coming out and disparaging and trying to vilify Mayor Mamdani when he stands courageously and speaks for the hurt and the suffering of the Palestinian people who are being murdered, and he says that he simply wants to stand up and stop this terrible murder in Palestine,” Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss said.
