Donald Trump bashes ‘anti-Semitic’ attack where five Jews were stabbed during Hanukkah celebration

Donald Trump bashes ‘anti-Semitic’ attack in New York where five Jewish people were stabbed during Hanukkah celebration and president calls for the country to ‘come together’

  • Donald Trump decried Saturday night’s attack calling for people to ‘come together’ and ‘fight’ against anti-Semitism 
  • Five Jewish people were stabbed during a Hanukkah celebrating at a Rabbi’s house in a majority-Jewish county in upstate New York
  • The suspect is a 37-year-old black man who tried to enter a synagogue after he was run out of the house 
  • Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner are Jewish

Donald Trump called for the country to ‘come together to fight anti-Semitism’ after a machete-wielding man attacked those gathered for a Hanukkah celebration Saturday night.

‘The anti-Semitic attack in Monsey, New York, on the 7th night of Hanukkah last night is horrific,’ Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon is response to the attack. ‘We must all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism. Melania and I wish the victims a quick and full recovery.’

Saturday night the suspect, identified as Thomas Grafton, a 37-year-old black man, entered Rabbi Chaim Leibush Rottenberg’s house in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood where about 60 people were gathered for the candle-lighting ceremony for the seventh night of Hanukkah.

Witnesses said the man had a machete and stabbed five people before one of the attendees chased him out of the home by throwing a coat rack, table and chair.

Donald Trump decried Saturday night’s attack where five Jewish people were stabbed, calling for people to ‘come together’ and ‘fight’ against anti-Semitism

The suspect, 37-year-old Thomas Grafton (center), was arrested by authorities two hours after the stabbing

The suspect, 37-year-old Thomas Grafton (center), was arrested by authorities two hours after the stabbing

Grafton tried to enter the synagogue next door but it was already barricaded by people who had taken shelter inside.

NYPD officers located him covered in blood 30 miles away in Harlem about two hours later and he was taken into custody at the 32nd precinct.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, while speaking to reporter Sunday morning, called the attack ‘an act of domestic terrorism.’

Trump’s daughter and Senior Advisor Ivanka converted to Judaism and is married to fellow-Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, who is also Jewish.

The attack in New York appeared to be the latest in a string targeting Jews in that region.

Trump's daughter Ivanka (right) and her husband Jared Kushner (right)  are Jewish. Here they are pictured with their children for a Hanukkah reception at the White House

Trump’s daughter Ivanka (right) and her husband Jared Kushner (right)  are Jewish. Here they are pictured with their children for a Hanukkah reception at the White House

Earlier this month a massacre occurred at a kosher grocery store in New Jersey and there are at least six other known anti-Semitic incidents over the first seven nights of Hanukkah, which began on December 23.

This time, a witness said the suspect said, ‘No one is going anywhere’ before he launched the attack.

The five stabbing victims were transported to two hospitals in the area but their conditions are still unknown.

Authorities have also not provided a motive for the attack, including whether it was prompted by religion.

An estimated one-third of the 320,000 residents of Rockland County, where the attack occurred, are Jewish, according to census figures, and it is the county with the highest concentration of Jews in the United States.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk