Assailant disrupts Shabbat service at NYC synagogue, attacks congregant — NYPD

Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.

NEW YORK — A man disrupted Shabbat services and attacked a guard and a congregant at Central Synagogue in Manhattan on Friday night.

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As synagogue security escorted the man out of the service, he struck a congregant and damaged synagogue property, then spit at and headbutted a member of the security team, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.

Tisch is Jewish, attended Central Synagogue growing up and was married there.

A police officer working security at the Reform synagogue took the assailant into custody.

The NYPD identified the suspect as Larry Montes, 46, from the Bronx.

Police charged Montes with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime, among other charges.

Extra police have been dispatched to the synagogue.

Tisch said she spoke with the synagogue rabbi, that no one was seriously injured, and there were no known additional threats.

The synagogue’s chief rabbi, Angela Buchdahl, is a national leader in the US Jewish community.

“I understand the sanctity of this space and its meaning for congregants. Central Synagogue is where I grew up,” Tisch said.

“In joy and in sorrow, it has always been a place of comfort and peace. What happened there tonight is deeply painful. A place of worship should never be a crime scene,” she said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “horrified” by the incident.

“This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe,” Mamdani said.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes far more than any other group in New York City.

Last month, Jews were targeted in 70% of all hate crimes in New York City, despite making up around 10% of the population. There have been at least 205 anti-Jewish hate crimes so far this year.

The last major incident took place late last month when an attacker who shouted “allahu akbar” allegedly stabbed a Jewish man with a screwdriver immediately after he left services on the Upper West Side. The assailant also allegedly stabbed a non-Jewish man.

Hate crimes against Jews and some other groups have increased since Mamdani took office at the start of the year.

Jewish leaders have repeatedly warned that Mamdani’s anti-Zionist rhetoric was stoking hatred against Jews in the city.

On Monday, rabbis from a swath of Jewish denominations met with Mamdani, warning him that his repeated broadsides against the Jewish state were harmful to the Jewish community.

Mark Treyger, the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said Friday’s incident was “reprehensible, particularly at a moment when antisemitism and threats against Jewish New Yorkers have reached alarming levels.”

“Leaders have a responsibility to lower the temperature and reject rhetoric that makes targeting our neighbors seem permissible,” Treyger said in a statement.

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