Raul Morales pleads not guilty to antisemitic hate crime attacks in NYC

Raul Morales, 51, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder as a hate crime following a series of unprovoked attacks on the Upper West Side in July. Prosecutors revealed that a search warrant of Morales’s phone uncovered text messages containing antisemitic statements prior to the incidents.

During the attacks, Morales allegedly stabbed a 57-year-old Asian man in the back with a knife, leaving the weapon lodged in the victim's spine. Shortly after, he reportedly approached a Jewish man, Moshe Yezhak Grunhaus, outside a synagogue and stabbed him in the back with a screwdriver. Both victims suffered serious injuries, including a collapsed lung, and continue to experience breathing difficulties.

Following the assaults, Morales allegedly fled to his apartment, where he engaged in a 50-minute standoff with police before surrendering.