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Trump Urges Strong Response To Horrific Attack On NYC Jewish Community

   DailyWire.com
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a signing ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019. Trump signed the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill, notably creating the new Space Force in exchange for implementing a 12-week paid parental leave for federal workers. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

President Trump responded to the brutal mass stabbing attack on a Jewish community during Hanukkah in New York City Saturday night by calling for a united effort to “eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism.”

“The anti-Semitic attack in Monsey, New York, on the 7th night of Hanukkah last night is horrific,” Trump, who has frequently condemned anti-Semitism, tweeted Sunday. “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.”

The attack took place at around 10 p.m. Saturday night at the home of Hasidic Rabbi Chaim L. Rottenberg where dozens of Orthodox Jews had gathered for a Hanukkah celebration.

“Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel said the suspected attacker entered the residence around 10 p.m. armed with a knife,” NBC New York reports. “Saturday was the seventh night of Hanukkah and was being widely observed in Monsey, a hamlet that is home to thousands of Orthodox Jews. There were as many as 70 people in the rabbi’s home at the time of the attack.”

The suspect, who is a 38-year-old African American man (his name is here withheld according to Daily Wire policy on naming mass killers), injured five people, including Rabbi Rottenberg’s son. “Two partygoers are believed to be critically injured,” The Daily Wire reports. “At least one of those critically injured sustained serious wounds to his face and neck.”

The suspect, who was arrested “covered in blood,” is expected to be charged with at least five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. According to law enforcement sources, authorities are now investigating whether the suspect is connected to another knife attack that occurred earlier this month at a nearby synagogue.

“The man accused of using a machete to hack five Hanukkah celebrants is a schizophrenic who is now being investigated in the earlier stabbing of a Jewish man near a synagogue in the same Rockland County town, family friends and police sources said,” The New York Post reports.

Rev. Wendy Paige, the pastor of the suspect says he suffers from mental illness, specifically schizophrenia. “There hasn’t been anyone who has given a real solution to deal with a grown man who is dealing with schizophrenia, other than ‘Go home and call us if something happens,'” said Paige, as reported by The New York Times. “He is a man who has mental illness in America, and the systems that be have not served him well.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responded to the mass stabbing by vowing to take decisive action to end “hate”-fueled violence.

“Let’s call it what it is. These people are domestic terrorists and the law should reflect that and they should be punished as if it was an act of terrorism,” he said of those behind a string of anti-Semitic attacks. “It is intolerant it is ignorant but it is also illegal. At the end of the day, it is not just about words but actions. It is violence spurred by hate. It is mass violence and I consider this an act of domestic terrorism.”

Cuomo went on to pledge that he would “take the lead here in the state of New York” to end such acts of intolerance.

Related: CNN’s Tapper On NYC Anti-Semitic Attacks: Identity Of Attackers Don’t Fit ‘Political Narrative’

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