A man who was seriously wounded in the Hanukkah mass stabbing at a rabbi's home in Monsey, New York three months ago has died from his injuries.
Josef Neumann, 72, had repeatedly been in a coma since the December 28, 2019 attack. "We are sad to inform you that Yosef Neumann, who was stabbed during the Hanukah attack in Monsey late Dec 2019, passed away this evening," the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council tweeted on Sunday.
Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg had gathered with friends at his home next to his synagogue, Congregation Netzach Yisroel, for a Hanukkah celebration on the night of the attack. Around 10 p.m. police received calls about a person who burst into the home and started stabbing people. Four other people besides Neumann were injured in what Governor Andrew Cuomo called "domestic terrorism" at the time.
The suspect fled the scene, but, thanks to a witness seeing a license plate, NYPD officers arrested Greenwood Lake resident Grafton Thomas, 37, in Harlem. He was charged of five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary, and also faces federal hate crime charges, after investigators said Thomas expressed anti-Semitic feelings in his journal. A psychiatric report says Thomas suffers from schizophrenia and is not fit for trial.
According to the Forward, "The assailant’s knife penetrated Neumann’s skull and cut into his brain. His right arm also was shattered." Over the past three months, his family continued to hope his condition would improve, especially after he opened his eyes last month.
On Monday, Cuomo issued a statement saying, "I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Josef Neumann, who suffered brutal stab wounds after an attacker invaded the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg on the final night of Hanukkah three months ago. This repugnant attack shook us to our core, demonstrating that we are not immune to the hate-fueled violence that we shamefully see elsewhere in the country."
The governor said he was going to rename legislation that classifies hate crime homicides as domestic terrorism after Neumann, "I am calling on the state legislature to pass it in the budget due April1. We owe it to Mr. Neumann, his family and the entire family of New York to get it done now."
