Boston rabbi stabbed outside synagogue, suspect in custody

A rabbi was stabbed multiple times Thursday outside a Boston synagogue but is expected to recover. 

The incident occurred just before 1:20 p.m. on Chestnut Hill Avenue in the city's Brighton neighborhood, the Boston Police Department told Fox news. 

The victim, Rabbi Shlomo Noginski, was stabbed outside the Shaloh House, a synagogue and school that had a children's day camp in session at the time of the attack, Chabad.org reported. Noginski, a father who moved to Boston from Israel to serve the city's Russian-speaking Jewish community, was sitting on the front steps of the building when the suspect approached him and drew a gun, the outlet said. 

The alleged attacker, identified by police as 24-year-old Khaled Awad, told Noginski to take him to his car and attempted to force him inside, the outlet reported. The rabbi tried running across the street to a nearby park called Brighton Common and was stabbed multiple times in the arm. 

The suspect was taken into custody and the victim was taken to a hospital with non life-threatening wounds, police said. A photo circulating on social media purportedly showed the rabbi covered in blood. Fox News has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the photo. 

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A police spokesman was not aware if a weapon was recovered. The incident was not being investigated as a hate crime as of yet, police said. Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the attack. 

Awad is expected to be charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer, the police department said. 

Dov Hikind, a former New York state assemblyman and founder of the grassroots coalition Americans Against Antisemitism, told Fox News he spoke with Noginsky's brother, who said the rabbi was expected to undergo surgery for eight stab wounds. The family believes the rabbi was targeted because he is Jewish, Hikind said. 

"Based on my conversation with his brother (he) believes the guy wanted to kidnap him," he said, adding that anti-Israel rhetoric has contributed to a rise in attacks against Jews. "The perpetrator was not interested in his money, not interested in his cell phone, was not interested in anything except to attack this individual."

He specifically singled out members of the "squad," a group of four congresswomen known for their progressive stance on a variety of issues – Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.

This week, Anti-Defamation League President Jonathan Greenblatt criticized Omar after she defended comments equating U.S. and Israel to the Taliban and said Jewish members of Congress weren't "partners in justice." 

In a text message to Fox News, Dan Rodkin, the executive director of the Shaloh House, said he was at the hospital with Noginski but did not provide any additional details. 

"We are heartened by the outpouring of concern and compassion we have received in just the last hours since the incident," he told the news outlet. 

The synagogue runs the Gan Israel Day Camp, which was in session at the time of the stabbing. In a statement to parents, Rodkin said the facility went into lockdown and the children were not in any danger. 

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While authorities said the case was not being investigated as a hate crime, the attack came amid a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment fueled by increasing tensions in the Middle East. Several incidents of Jewish people being attacked in various cities across the country went viral as Israeli forces and Hamas, the governing body of the Gaza Strip engaged in back-and-forth rocket attacks and airstrikes. 

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, the president of the Conference of Jewish Affairs, told Fox News Thursday's attack was not isolated. He cited recent assaults on Jews in Los Angeles and other cities. 

"There is a climate of more than just anti-Semitism," he told Fox News. "It's physical attacks with the intent of killing people who are Jewish. Conspicuously Jewish. And that just doesn't come out of thin air.