A Jewish man in traditional garb was stabbed with a suspected syringe by a woman who stalked him through Midtown Manhattan during Wednesday evening rush hour, police sources said.
The victim, 26, was walking on Fifth Avenue near West 47th Street in the Diamond District just before 6 p.m. When a woman speaking Russian began following him closely, according to the sources.
Alarming video posted on X by the Manhattan Shomrim shows the suspected attacker trailing the man around a parked car as he tries to evade her, while several pedestrians pass on the nearby sidewalk.
The man felt a sharp needle-like prick to his lower right back as he approached a nearby grocery store, sources said. He told police he believed he was stabbed with a syringe, though it was not immediately clear whether anything was inside.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is now investigating the attack.
Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Teachers, lashed out at Mayor Zohran Mamdani on X Thursday morning.
“Mayor Mamdani this is on you,” he raged. “Another Jew stabbed in broad daylight in Midtown.”
The assault comes amid a troubling surge in bias crimes across the city. The NYPD revealed weeks earlier that hate crimes jumped by nearly 13% over the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for more than half of them.
The Wednesday stabbing also follows a July attack on the Upper West Side, when a man ranting “Allahu Akbar” stabbed a Jewish and Asian man, authorities said at the time. Prosecutors said a search warrant on his phone “revealed text messages containing antisemitic statements.”
The Manhattan Shomrim, a Jewish civilian patrol group, circulated the surveillance footage of Wednesday’s stalking on social media, drawing widespread attention to the brazen nature of the assault in one of the city’s busiest corridors during peak evening hours.
The Diamond District, centered on West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, is a heavily trafficked commercial area known for its concentration of jewelry businesses and Orthodox Jewish merchants.
No arrest had been announced as of Thursday morning, and police had not publicly identified the female suspect.
