Mass stabbing targeting Jews attending a New York Hanukkah party.

Police guard a synagogue in New York. New York Times/AP.

Five people were stabbed at a Hanukkah party in Monsey New York. New York Times. The attacker broke into the home of a Rabbi and begun stabbing people but managed to escape afterwards and is still at large. Of the five wounded, two were in critical condition and one was the son of the Rabbi. It is unclear what the motive for the attack was but there has been an uptick in antisemitic attacks in the New York area. 

My Comment:

This is a breaking news story so some of the information here might be wrong or out of date. It seems like a pretty clear example of mass violence, but it is unclear what the motive is. I am guessing it was probably antisemitism though. I suppose it could be an example of a regular home invasion but that seems very unlikely. Home invasions are rare in the first place and so are random attacks without motive. The most likely explanation is that this was a bias crime. 

I know that there have been quite a few incidents where Jews in New York have been attacked, mostly by black men. That aspect of these incidents is under-reported but the tensions between the two groups are very high. Why is beyond me but it's clear that Jews and blacks aren't getting along right now. I don't want to speculate too much about why the two groups don't get along for pretty obvious reasons, no matter what I say I could get accused of bigotry. However, I will say that it's unclear what race the attacker is in this case and for all I know it could be another Jewish person. 

This is, of course, a good example of why someone doesn't need a gun to attack a bunch of people. Armed only with a knife this attacker managed to send five people to the hospital and actually manage to escape afterwards. He might have had some more casualties if he had a gun but it didn't seem to matter too much, five people are hurt and more were terrorized. 

I also think that Jews should probably start considering arming up. I know the stereotype is that Jews are anti-gun but I think this attack demonstrates why that is such a bad idea. If even one person at the party had a gun this story would probably have ended with either nobody getting stabbed and the attacker getting shot or at worst a stabbing or two before the attacker was driven off or killed. 

I do think that there has been a rise of antisemitism lately, both in America and throughout the world. Some of that is due to Islamic immigration but it also seems to be on the uptick on both the far right and the far left. Without going into the reasons why that is or what can be done about it I do think that attacks like this will continue.