Israeli Leaders Condemn Hanukkah Attack in New York State

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened the Israeli cabinet’s weekly meeting on Sunday by saying the country “strongly condemns the latest expressions of anti-Semitism and the cruel attack in the middle of Hanukkah at the home of the rabbi in Monsey.” He was referring to Saturday evening’s machete attack in the town north of New York City in which five people were injured. “We will cooperate in any way with local authorities to help wipe out this phenomenon,” he added. “We offer this help to all countries.” In a statement of his own, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said that “resurgent anti-Semitism is not only a problem for the Jewish people, and certainly not for Israel alone.” The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center called on the FBI to “step up and take the lead” on violent hate crimes targeting religious Jews. “Enough is enough!” the center said in a statement following the attack in Monsey. “Jews should not have to fear for their lives in America to go to their houses of worship.”