WASHINGTON – US Senator Charles Schumer has asked the FBI to investigate any possible links, direct or indirect, between the Monsey attack that wounded five people during a Saturday night Hanukkah party and other anti-Semitic attacks of the past several days.
The FBI has been at the scene of the Monsey attack since it occurred.
“The FBI continues to work with state and local law enforcement, including the NYPD,” he said on Sunday. “The FBI, state, and local law enforcement continue to assess whether there were any additional motives in the Monsey attack, as well.”
The senator called the Monsey attack “cowardly and callous” and “one of pure evil.”
Other officials who commented on the attack included Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “Disturbingly, this is not an isolated incident. In the past few weeks, New York’s Jewish community has faced a surge in violence, and across the country, anti-Semitism is on the rise,” she said. “We cannot, and will not, let this continue. We must all condemn these incidents, and work to ensure that every community is fighting against the rise in anti-Semitism.”
Congresswoman Nita Lowey who represents portions of Rockland and Westchester counties, said, “We must not rest until all individuals of all faiths are safe to walk the streets and worship without fear.”
Rockland County Legislature Chairman Toney Earl stands “proudly and strongly with my Jewish brothers and sisters and know that together, we shall overcome the bigotry, hatred, racism and anti-Semitism that keeps trying to tighten its grip on us all.”
Westchester County Executive George Latimer has directed the county police patrol units “to conduct additional inspections of synagogues and any other Jewish facilities within our jurisdiction. If any are occupied, we are having our officers stop in to reassure that we are here to protect them.”
Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said those kinds of actions “have no place anywhere and we in Orange County stand in solidarity with the victims in Monsey.”
He said are “offensive on every level and hurt not just the victims, but the entire community, and cannot be tolerated.”
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said the Monsey attack “is the latest in a series of sickening acts of violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters. Such acts must be condemned completely and without reservation as totally contrary to everything that people of faith stand for. An attack on any individual or group because of his or her religious beliefs is an attack on us all. This hatred has no place in our city, state, or nation, or anywhere else on our planet.”
