{"id":341019,"date":"2026-09-08T19:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/341019\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:52:10","slug":"maniac-who-stabbed-2-in-nyc-sent-antisemitic-texts-before-attack-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/341019\/","title":{"rendered":"Maniac who stabbed 2 in NYC sent antisemitic texts before attack: prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hateful lunatic<\/a> who stabbed a Jewish and Asian man on the Upper West Side sent antisemitic\u00a0texts before the attacks \u2014 which left one victim with a knife sticking in his back, prosecutors revealed Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raul Morales, 51, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime at his Manhattan Supreme Court arraignment for the July 23 \u201cunprovoked\u201d attacks that left two men badly injured.<\/p>\n

Since his arrest, investigators uncovered evidence showing he holds\u00a0anti-Jewish views, according to prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raul Morales pleaded not guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime in Manhattan Supreme Court. Steven Hirsch for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cA search warrant on the defendant\u2019s phone revealed text messages containing antisemitic\u00a0statements,\u201d Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Megan Joy told Justice Althea Drysdale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morales allegedly yelled \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d before creeping behind a 57-year-old Asian man and plunging a knife into his back on West 84th Street and Central Park West around 1:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first victim was taken to the hospital with the knife still lodged in his back, and more specifically, into the bone of his spine, causing serious injury and danger,\u201d Joy told the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe underwent specialty surgery to remove the knife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minutes later, Morales passed the Jewish Center and ranted \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d and \u201cJustice for Islam\u201d before allegedly stabbing Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, a kippah-wearing Jewish man, in the back with a screwdriver as he emerged from the synagogue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nut then fled to his NYCHA apartment a few blocks away, where a good Samaritan trailed him and alerted police, according to prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus was stabbed in the back during an antisemitic attack on the Upper West Side. Facebook\/Lidia Lander<\/p>\n

After a 50 minute standoff with cops, Morales changed clothes and surrendered to police, Joy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grunhaus suffered from a collapsed lung, and both victims have trouble breathing to this day, according to prosecutors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About a dozen Grunhaus supporters filled the courtroom on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough he\u2019s brave and still stoic, the trauma has to be terrible,\u201d Sheldon Fine, who visited Grunhaus in the hospital, told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Raul Morales with attempted murder as a hate crime on Tuesday. Steven Hirsch for NY Post<\/p>\n

The judge held Morales, a former drug parolee and Brooklyn security guard<\/a>, without bail at his arraignment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The stabbings came as antisemitic attacks continued to rise<\/a> across the Big Apple.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRaul Morales was allegedly motivated by antisemitism when he attacked two New Yorkers in broad daylight near two Upper West Side synagogues,\u201d Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement after attending the hearing. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince the initial arrest, my Office has continued to thoroughly investigate this matter and uncovered additional evidence alleging the defendant harbors antisemitic views,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is a prime example of how hate crimes make all of us less safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hateful lunatic who stabbed a Jewish and Asian man on the Upper West Side sent antisemitic\u00a0texts before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3862,10685,75,84,83,57,9,24,63,103,58],"class_list":["post-341019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-antisemitism","tag-hate-crimes","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341019","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=341019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}