A Chabad rabbi was stabbed multiple times on Thursday outside a Boston synagogue in what appears to be an antisemitic attack. The victim, identified as Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, was attacked just before 1:20pm on Chestnut Hill Avenue located in the Brighton neighborhood.
According to Fox News, the victim was stabbed while outside Shaloh House, a Chabad institute for the Russian Jewish community that had a children’s summer day camp session on the day of the incident.
Noginski, who serves as a Rabbi and teacher at Shaloh House, was sitting on the front steps of the building talking on his phone when a man approached him and drew a gun. The suspect told the Rabbi to take him to his car and tried to force him inside. At that time, Noginski attempted to flee and ran across the street to a nearby park but the man was able to catch up and stabbed him repeatedly.
Rabbi Dan Rodkin, executive director of the Shaloh House, said Noginski was stabbed eight times on his arm and was taken to a hospital with non life-threatening wounds. Chabad.org reported the Rabbi is recovering in hospital and is in stable condition.
The Boston Police Department said the attacker was apprehended by authorities and taken into custody. Police recovered a firearm and a knife from the attacker when he was nabbed by officers.
The attacker who was later identified as Khaled Awad, 24, has been charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer. Authorities say the motive for the attack is still unclear.
Dov Hikind, a former New York state assemblyman and founder of the grassroots coalition Americans Against Antisemitism spoke with Noginsky's brother and said the family believes the Rabbi was targeted because he is Jewish.
Police said they are stepping up patrols at nearby synagogues and Jewish sites.
In recent months, a surge in antisemitic incidents across the US has been reported particularly following the conflict between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip in May. Israel’s Consul General in Boston Meron Reuben said that Noginski was an Israeli citizen who had come to Boston for a short period as a Chabad emissary. “We are horrified by what has happened,” Reuben said. “We are very concerned, and we are following the situation very diligently.”
