A Manhattan grand jury has indicted Raul Morales on hate crime charges stemming from a July stabbing attack that left two men injured near synagogues on the Upper West Side, according to the New York Times. Prosecutors say Morales attacked the victims while yelling “Allahu akbar,” a detail that anchors the hate crime enhancement now attached to his case. Both men survived the assault. The indictment moves Morales’s case from arrest to prosecution, and the trial will turn largely on whether the attack was motivated by the victims’ religion or perceived religion.
The case adds to a string of antisemitism-linked incidents near New York City synagogues this year, following a separate and unrelated attack at Central Synagogue in Midtown involving a different defendant, Larry Montes. The two cases are being prosecuted separately and involve different alleged motives and legal theories, but both have unsettled Jewish community leaders and synagogue security staff across Manhattan.
What prosecutors say happened during the July attack
Prosecutors allege that Morales stabbed two men near Upper West Side synagogues in July, in an area with a dense Jewish population and several houses of worship within a short walk of each other. The New York Times reports that Morales shouted “Allahu akbar” during the assault, a statement prosecutors are using to support the hate crime charges reflected in the grand jury indictment.
Timeline of the stabbings and the “Allahu akbar” statement
According to the Times, the stabbings took place in July, though the specific date, time, and exact location have not been detailed in available reporting. What’s established is that Morales allegedly stabbed two men in a single incident and made the “Allahu akbar” statement during the attack, which prosecutors have cited as evidence of intent tied to the victims’ faith or the religious character of the area near the synagogues.
Condition and survival of the two victims
Both stabbing victims survived the attack, according to prosecutors cited by the New York Times. No further details on the severity of their injuries, hospitalization, or recovery have been made public. The fact that both men survived hasn’t lessened the charges Morales faces: New York’s hate crime statutes don’t require a fatality to apply, only that the underlying criminal act, in this case stabbing, be proven alongside a bias motivation.
The charges: what hate crime enhancement means for Morales’s case
New York’s hate crime law works as an enhancement rather than a standalone charge. Prosecutors first have to prove the underlying offense, here, stabbing two men, and then separately prove the attack was motivated in whole or substantial part by belief or perception regarding the victims’ religion. If a jury finds both elements met, the hate crime designation typically raises the severity classification of the underlying charge and increases the potential sentence upon conviction.
For Morales, that means prosecutors will need to show not just that he stabbed the two victims near the synagogues, but that his shouted statement and the circumstances of the attack reflect bias intent rather than an unrelated dispute or random violence that happened to occur in a religious area. The grand jury’s decision to indict on hate crime charges means prosecutors presented enough evidence to meet that threshold, though an indictment is not a conviction, and Morales retains the presumption of innocence through trial.
How this case differs from the Central Synagogue attack by Larry Montes
The Morales case is separate from a different incident involving Larry Montes, a 46-year-old Bronx man charged with federal hate crimes after an assault at Central Synagogue in Midtown Manhattan. According to the Department of Justice, Montes was charged with two counts of committing hate crimes in connection with an attack during Shabbat services. Federal prosecutors allege Montes attacked a 63-year-old female congregant and a security guard, and also caused property damage inside the synagogue, according to multiple reports including NBC News and the Associated Press. Police described the Central Synagogue incident as a “random antisemitic attack,” and Montes faces both state and federal charges.
The two cases differ in several respects. Montes’s alleged attack happened inside a synagogue during an active service, directly disrupting worship, while the Morales stabbings occurred outdoors, near synagogues rather than inside one. Montes faces federal hate crime charges from the Department of Justice in addition to state charges, while Morales’s case, as reported by the New York Times, proceeds through a Manhattan grand jury indictment at the state level. The alleged statements also differ: authorities have characterized Montes’s case mainly around the assault and property damage during Shabbat services, while Morales allegedly shouted “Allahu akbar” during his attack, a specific statement prosecutors are using to establish motive. Still, both cases have been grouped together in public discussion as part of a wider pattern of antisemitic violence affecting Manhattan’s Jewish institutions in 2025 and 2026.
Upper West Side synagogues on edge after back-to-back antisemitic incidents
The Upper West Side has a dense cluster of synagogues and a large Jewish population, which makes the neighborhood especially sensitive to attacks that prosecutors classify as hate-motivated. The July stabbings near these synagogues, combined with the separate Central Synagogue attack in Midtown, have added to concerns among congregants and synagogue leadership about safety during services and in surrounding areas. Security measures at synagogues across Manhattan, including guards and coordination with local police precincts, have drawn renewed attention following both incidents, though specific new security measures adopted in direct response to the Morales case have not been detailed in available reporting.
Legal process ahead: arraignment, potential penalties, and what comes next
Morales’s indictment moves his case toward arraignment, where he will formally enter a plea to the hate crime charges. From there, the case proceeds through pretrial hearings before a plea agreement or a trial determines the outcome. Because hate crime charges function as sentencing enhancements tied to underlying felony charges in New York, such as assault or attempted assault stemming from the stabbings, the specific range of potential penalties will depend on which underlying charges the indictment specifies alongside the bias enhancement. As with any indicted defendant, Morales is presumed innocent unless and until convicted at trial or through a plea.
Rise in reported hate crimes targeting NYC’s Jewish community in 2025-2026
The Morales indictment and the separate Central Synagogue case involving Larry Montes both fit into a wider pattern of antisemitic incidents reported across New York City’s Jewish institutions over the past year. Attacks occurring both inside synagogues during services and on the streets surrounding Jewish neighborhoods have prompted heightened scrutiny from law enforcement, from NYPD hate crime task force involvement in the Morales case to federal Department of Justice intervention in the Montes prosecution. Both state and federal authorities are now involved across these cases, and the outcome of the Morales trial will be watched closely as a test of how prosecutors handle hate crime enhancements tied to statements made during an attack, such as the “Allahu akbar” declaration prosecutors say Morales made while stabbing his two victims.
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