BOSTON (AP) – A rabbi who was stabbed near a Jewish day school in Boston is recovering in hospital and a suspect has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, officials said.
Rabbi Dan Rodkin, executive director of Shallow House, posted on Facebook, Rabbi Shlomo Noginsky is “stable and in good spirits”, after being stabbed several times in the arm. According to police, the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Police said in a statement that the stabbing took place just after 1 p.m. Thursday in the Brighton area of the city.
Initial reports said a man contacted Noginsky, who was talking on his phone. He pulled out a gun and told Noginsky to take it to his car. When he tried to force her inside, Noginsky tried to run away and the man repeatedly stabbed her.
Khalid Awadh, 24, was arrested soon after the incident and is being tried on Friday. It could not be determined whether he had a lawyer.
The motive for the stabbing is unclear and police are still investigating, but District Attorney Rachel Rollins said in a vigil in support of Nginxie on Friday that her office has opened a civil rights investigation.
“We have to recognize that anti-Semitic sentiment is on the rise, and we need to hold people accountable when they do, so that they can be an example,” said Rollins cautiously, away from the stabbing site. No, which was attended by several hundred people. .
Rabbi Shlomo Noginsky, who was stabbed to death in Boston on July 1, 2021 (Chabad.org)
Some who attended the rally believe that it was a hate crime.
“We must investigate this incident as a hate crime. I don’t think there’s a member of our Jewish community who hasn’t heard of this stabbing and thought to themselves, ‘Oh my god, this happened here in Boston,'” said Mark Baker, president of United Jewish Philanthropy.
“While we await further details and pray for his recovery, I want to categorically say that all our neighbors deserve to be free from fear. Antisemitism is a clear and persistent threat to our communities,” tweeted Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Acting Mayor Kim Janney said the attack on the rabbi was an attack on the entire city.
“I believe that an attack on any member of our community is an attack on all of us.”
Rodkin said the suspect approached the rabbi while he was talking on the phone on the steps of the school.
Today’s Attack on a Rabbi #brightonma A wave of fear and anxiety has been sent across the community. As this investigation unfolds, we demand complete transparency so that the community can answer why a rabbi was killed outside his house of worship. pic.twitter.com/w6NwxKpuqV
— ADL New England (@ADL_NewEngland) 1 July 2021
Rodkin said the suspect demanded the keys to the rabbi’s car and fled to a park on Noginsky street, where he was stabbed.
As soon as the school became aware of the stabbing, the facility went into lockdown and no child was ever in danger, Rodkin said in a Facebook post.
Noginsky is an Israeli citizen who came to the Boston area as an envoy to spread the Chabad message, Israel’s Consul General in New England, Meron Reuben, told the Boston Herald.
“We are horrified by what has happened,” Reuben said.
Noginsky spoke to Lubavitch.com from his hospital bed.
“I am grateful to the Boston Police Department for their prompt response, and relieved that the perpetrator is in custody. I look forward to returning to work as soon as possible.”
A rabbi was stabbed outside the Shallow House Jewish Day School, seen here, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on July 1, 2021. (Screenshot from Google Maps via JTA)
The Anti-Defamation League of New England said in a statement that the stabbing caused “a wave of fear and anxiety throughout the community.”
“As this investigation unfolds, we call for complete transparency so that the community can answer why a rabbi was killed outside his shrine,” the organization’s regional director, Robert Traston, said in a statement.
Recent months have seen a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across the US, particularly after 11 days of conflict between Israel and terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip in May.
