stabbed<\/a> two men near Upper West Side synagogues on July 23.<\/p>\nMorales, who wore a prison jumpsuit, \u201clooked haggard, just as he had in the photos at the crime scene,\u201d Smulansky told JNS. He entered the court via a side entrance and pleaded not guilty, she said.<\/p>\n
When prosecutors said in court that he had Jew-hatred on his phone, that was a revelation \u201calbeit not surprising,\u201d she told JNS.<\/p>\n
Bragg\u2019s office stated that investigators uncovered evidence that Morales \u201cspecifically harbors antisemitic views,\u201d including antisemitic text messages found on his phone.<\/p>\n
The city alleged that Morales \u201creturned to his New York City-provided housing\u201d after the attack \u201cand refused to come out for nearly an hour,\u201d Smulansky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Morales did exit his apartment, he had changed from the clothes he was wearing at the time of the crime, although those clothes were later recovered, along with phones containing antisemitic material, from the defendant\u2019s apartment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Legal Aid Society lawyers representing Morales did not have anything to add at this juncture, except something vague about preparing a report,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also highlighted the alleged comment that Morales made about \u201cjustice for Islam,\u201d which received less public attention than reports that he yelled \u201cAllahu akbar,\u201d according to Smulansky.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was surprising to see District Attorney Alvin Bragg there,\u201d Smulansky told JNS. \u201cThis is the first time I have seen him, although I have attended proceedings for years. At the same time, this is an attempted murder case, so it is a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was also the first time she saw Bragg \u201cat one of our hate crime matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe optimist in me reads this as an increased interest in the Jewish community\u2019s well-being at a challenging and dangerous time for us,\u201d she told JNS. \u201cThe cynic in me worries the apparent uptick in interest is down to the significant press coverage of this case and it being election season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both victims were \u201cdischarged from the hospital within days,\u201d Smulansky said, but \u201cthe effects of the attacks continue to affect the victims to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morales faces four counts of attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime and multiple assault charges as hate crimes.<\/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 Bragg stated. \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<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is a prime example of how hate crimes make all of us less safe,\u201d Bragg stated. \u201cI 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
Morales is accused of stabbing a 57-year-old Asian-American man in the back with a knife near West 83rd Street and Central Park West on July 23, yelling \u201cAllahu akbar\u201d during the attack and later shouting \u201cJustice for Islam\u201d while passing a synagogue.<\/p>\n
About 12 minutes later, prosecutors say, Morales allegedly stabbed Moshe Grunhaus, 50, who was wearing a kippah, in the chest with a screwdriver near West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The first victim arrived at the hospital with the knife still lodged in his back and required surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke to chaplain Sheldon Fine, who visited victim Grunhaus in the hospital on the day of the attack,\u201d Smulansky told JNS. \u201cHe spoke of Grunhaus\u2019s incredible stoicism and his wish for a bracha,\u201d or blessing.<\/p>\n
Fine also spoke about continued post-traumatic stress \u201cin the wake of these sorts of attacks\u201d and how Grunhaus \u201chas not been immune,\u201d Smulansky said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Sept. 10, 2026 \/ JNS) Larry Montes, 46, looked \u201csubdued\u201d when he pleaded not guilty in court to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-343543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343543","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=343543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}