{"id":340989,"date":"2026-09-08T19:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/340989\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:22:13","slug":"raul-morales-pleads-not-guilty-to-antisemitic-attack-on-upper-west-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/340989\/","title":{"rendered":"Raul Morales pleads not guilty to antisemitic attack on Upper West Side"},"content":{"rendered":"

The man accused of committing back-to-back stabbings on the Upper West Side<\/a> \u2014 plunging a knife into an Asian man\u2019s back and a screwdriver into a Jewish man\u2019s chest \u2014 pleaded not guilty to felony hate crime charges Tuesday in court in Manhattan, where prosecutors alleged they had uncovered evidence of his antisemitic bias.<\/p>\n

Wearing beige prison garb over a white T-shirt to his Manhattan Supreme Court<\/a> arraignment, Raul Morales, 51, pleaded not guilty to four counts of attempted murder as a hate crime, two counts of assault as a hate crime, two counts of attempted assault as a hate crime, and related charges. The charges carry up to 40 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors at Manhattan District Attorney<\/a> Alvin Bragg\u2019s office said that, through search warrants, they had uncovered antisemitic sentiments in text messages on Morales\u2019 cell phone.<\/p>\n

When asked by reporters for details, DA Bragg, who attended the hearing, declined to comment on what the text messages said, saying only that his office would vigorously litigate the \u201cheinous antisemitic incident\u201d in court.<\/p>\n

\"ManhattanManhattan DA Alvin Bragg is pictured in the audience during Raul Morales’ arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the initial arrest, my office has continued to thoroughly investigate this matter and uncovered additional evidence alleging the defendant specifically harbors antisemitic views,\u201d Bragg said later in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is a prime example of how hate crimes make all of us less safe. I want to make clear to all Manhattanites that we will stand with and support you no matter your background, ethnicity or religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheldon Fine, an Upper West Side chaplain, attended Tuesday\u2019s proceedings in solidarity with the victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was extremely important because of how horrendous this attack was,\u201d Fine said, adding that he visited the Asian victim after he was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, where surgeons removed a knife from his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw him in the hospital,\u201d Fine said. \u201cHe had a terrible situation, stabbed in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RaulRaul Morales appears in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Morales, who authorities previously said may be dealing with mental illness, has been held on Rikers Island without bail since his July 23 arrest following the attacks that occurred within a four-block radius on the Upper West Side. The Legal Aid Society, which is representing him, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Morales first targeted a 57-year-old Asian-American man wearing a baseball cap walking on W. 84th St. near Central Park West, stabbing him in the back and yelling, \u201cAllahu Akbar!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NYPD investigates a stabbing at W. 84th St. and Central Park West in Manhattan on Thursday, July 23, 2026, in New York City. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Less than 15 minutes later, according to charging documents, Morales thrust a screwdriver into the chest of Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, a 50-year-old Jewish man wearing a kippah near W. 86th St. and Amsterdam Ave, as he was leaving Tisha B\u2019Av services at The Jewish Center, a prominent Upper West Side synagogue.<\/p>\n

A UPS delivery worker who followed Morales to his apartment building allegedly also heard him yell, \u201cAllahu Akbar!\u201d Morales was arrested at his apartment inside a NYCHA complex on Amsterdam Ave. near W. 89th St. after heavily armed NYPD Emergency Service Unit cops<\/a> stood outside his door for around an hour.<\/p>\n

With Barry Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man accused of committing back-to-back stabbings on the Upper West Side \u2014 plunging a knife into an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3015,3862,128023,128022,75,547,9,11,10,128024,115318,2442,97155,62],"class_list":["post-340989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-alvin-bragg","tag-antisemitism","tag-asian-victim","tag-jewish-victim","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-district-attorney","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-phone-messages","tag-raul-morales","tag-stabbings","tag-text-messages","tag-upper-west-side"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}