Jewish stabbing victim named, 'especially frustrating' since Moshe Grunhaus was in process of leaving Manhattan to move to Florida, sources say

Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, 50, was identified as the Jewish man stabbed in Manhattan's Upper West Side on Thursday during Tisha B'Av. Grunhaus, who was wearing a kippah, was reportedly in the process of moving from Manhattan to Florida, with one source suggesting frustration over New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's rhetoric as a contributing factor. Jewish leaders, including Eric Goldstein of UJA-Federation of New York and Mark Treyger of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, condemned the attack at a press conference, linking it to a climate of increased antisemitism fueled by public officials' statements.

"When the mayor of New York repeatedly uses his platform to relentlessly single out and demonize Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, and calls those who support it 'monsters,' he contributes to a climate in which Jewish New Yorkers are increasingly targeted and unsafe,"

said Eric Goldstein. Rabbi Yosie Levine of the Jewish Center added, "Jewish life in America is starting to feel like Jewish life in Europe: armed guards, bulletproof glass and the constant fear that yesterday’s rhetoric will turn into today’s assault." Statistics show that anti-Jewish hate crimes in NYC were up 182% in the first month of Mamdani's term, and Jews were targets of 55% of all hate crimes in the first half of the year.