Mamdani Comes Under Fire After Man Storms NYC Synagogue, Punches Woman in the Face
“As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team.”
A Bronx man is facing hate crime charges after disrupting Shabbat services at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue and assaulting two people as he was being escorted from the building Friday night. He punched a 63-year-old woman in the face and spat on and head-butted a security guard. His actions were captured on the synagogue’s livestream.
Tonight a man disrupted Shabbat services at Central Synagogue, punched a 63 y/o woman in the face, and attacked a security guard.
Jews in New York have spent years warning that there is a target on their backs. This time it was live-streamed. pic.twitter.com/v6NwmL1QpM
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 15, 2026
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement, “As synagogue security was escorting him out, he struck a member of the congregation, damaged synagogue property, and then spit at and head-butted a member of the security team.”
She added that Larry Montes, 46, “faces two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime.”
In the video below from NBC News, congregants can be heard reacting to a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot shortly after Montes entered the synagogue. It’s unclear what the sound was, but, thankfully, he was not armed.
Two attendees later told NBC they thought it was a gun. One said, “He was just ranting and raving and yelling. He looked like a maniac. I wanted to go undercover. Who the hell knows what he’s going to do?”
“But we’re resilient, and we go on. [The] services continued,” she added.
NBC reported that the 63-year-old woman whom Montes struck was treated for minor injuries.
Man charged with assault, hate crimes after allegedly disrupting Shabbat services at NYC synagogue
The NYPD later identified the suspect as Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, and said he was charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a… pic.twitter.com/D2EOT3rKjm— NYC News 24 🗞️ (@NYCNews24) August 15, 2026
The New York Post reported that during Montes’ late Saturday-night arraignment on hate crime charges in Manhattan Criminal Court, prosecutors said he told police after the attack that Jews were “swine.” He also reportedly yelled, “f*** the Jews.”
According to the Post, Assistant District Attorney Ali Fazal said:
Montes allegedly admitted to cops that his actions were religiously motivated, and called those worshiping inside the synagogue ‘Swine.’
In addition to having animus towards Jewish individuals, the defendant admitted to having racial animus towards black people.
The prosecutors alleged that Montes “admitted to acting ‘on instinct’ and said ‘he was mad.'”
Fazal said: “As people tried to peacefully worship, the defendant interrupted the service by screaming and charging towards the bimah, where the Rabbi was presiding over the service.”
He “grabbed and threw two religious candles and candle holders, causing them to break.” [The Post notes these artifacts are valued at approximately $10,000 each.]
The Post reported that although prosecutors requested bail of $50,000 cash or $150,000 bond, Judge Janice Chen set bail at just $10,000 cash or $30,000 bond.
Needless to say, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani claimed to be “horrified by the assault.” The antisemitic mayor, who recently spent weeks searching for a way to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his upcoming visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, wrote on X:
Every New Yorker must be able to observe their religion without fear of violence. This despicable act has no place in our city, and our administration will do everything in our power to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.
Please spare us.
I am horrified by the assault at Central Synagogue during services today. I can only imagine the pain and fear an attack like this, during Shabbat services, causes for the congregation and for Jewish New Yorkers across our city.
Every New Yorker must be able to observe their…
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) August 15, 2026
He followed up with a second post on Saturday in which he declared, “Our administration will always stand against bigotry in all its forms. We will use every tool at our disposal to confront antisemitism and keep Jewish New Yorkers — and all New Yorkers — safe.”
The NYPD has arrested Larry Montes, a 46-year-old Bronx man, in connection with this attack. He has been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime, one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime and other charges.
I am grateful to Central Synagogue’s security team for… https://t.co/cvcCQV93p6
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) August 15, 2026
Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, quickly pointed to a remark Mamdani made at the 2023 Democratic Socialists of America national convention that struck a very different tone: “When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.”
During a panel discussion titled “Socialist Internationalism: The Solution to the Crisis of Capitalism,” Mamdani argued that “activists should make the Palestinian cause ‘hyper-local’ by connecting it to domestic political struggles in the United States.”
Also Mamdani: "When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the IDF." https://t.co/HIV1IxFkCl
— Zineb Riboua (@zriboua) August 15, 2026
September, 2023.
Zohran Mamdani: "We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the IDF." pic.twitter.com/sr8pQyKvCq
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 28, 2025
This toxic remark resurfaced last October during his campaign. [I covered it here.]
Given that New York City is home to the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, a revelation like this so close to Election Day should have been a game-changer. But it didn’t appear to hurt him too much, if at all.
Mamdani can issue all the statements he wants condemning antisemitism, but Jewish New Yorkers have every reason to judge him by more than the carefully crafted words his office releases after an attack. His long record of hostility toward Israel, inflammatory rhetoric linking the IDF to alleged NYPD brutality, and efforts to target Netanyahu are part of the record, too.
Earlier this month, seven months into his mayoralty, it was reported that anti-Jewish hate crimes are up 8.5% from the same period last year. Mamdani did not create the antisemitism that has plagued New York City for years, nor can he be blamed for the actions of every disturbed individual who targets Jews. But a mayor helps set the moral tone of a city. For New York’s Jewish community, assurances that his administration “will always stand against bigotry” ring increasingly hollow when measured against both his past rhetoric and the reality they are confronting on the streets.
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Comments
Another unstable individual feeding off the hate propagated by Red Mamdani. He’s horrified? When Red Mamdani glorified hamas, hezbollah and iran he is part and parcel part of the terror problem. When his minions decide to cause a mass casualty attack will he still be horrified? Or will he celebrate?
“Another unstable individual feeding off the hate propagated by Red Mamdani.” In other words, a Democrat.
This crime statistic might best be recorded under the “blue vs blue” category, in which the alleged perpetrator and victim(s) all support the same political party.
NY Jews voted overwhelmingly against Mamdani.
To be clear, 33% of NYC Jews voted for Mamdani. I consider that a pretty “overwhelming” number.
67% is an overwhelming majority in any community, and especially one that usually votes Democrat.
Central Synagogue is a leftist establishment; I would expect that in a normal election at least 80% of the synagogue votes Democrat, and the rest keep their heads down and let everyone think they vote Democrat. There’s no way to know how many voted against Mamdani, but my guess is about half.
33 percent is probably more than would vote for someone that might actually fix problems.
In a “regular” election, 67% is overwhelming, but this was hardly a regular election. I was still disappointed that 1 in 3 Jewish voters went for Mamdani,
Central Synagogue is a “leftist establishment”? I guess that would make it a blue vs blue incident.
Q, no; the attacker is not “blue”. And he’s not what the people of that very leftist synagogue voted for.
Mamdani won 84% of female voters aged 18-29. he won 67% of men in the same age group. Mamdani won across most demographics, leading among both men and women overall, as well as voters identifying as “very liberal,” 84 percent of whom supported him.
Jews were not the problem in this election.
I didn’t say that Jewish voters were “the problem in this election.” Meaning, I take it from your quoting election statistics, that I was implying that their votes were decisive in his victory.
I simply said that I was disappointed that 33% of Jewish voters voted for Mamdani.
What percentage of New York City Christians voted for Mamdummy? I assume a majority — this idiot doesn’t get elected without their support.
Your assumption is disappointedly bigoted.
Milhouse—even though your arrogance can be grating, I respect your input here. Please inform us Gentiles WHY Jews historically have so loyally supported the Democrat Party. Democrats have been pro-slavery, pro-Jim Crow, anti-business and now openly antisemitic. FDR and Woodrow Wilson did them no favors. Neither did Obama or Biden. Trump has Jews in his immediate family. Why the blind loyalty to Democrats?
In the 19th and early 20th century, which was the time of massive Jewish immigration to the USA, antisemitism was much more common in the GOP than in the Democrats. It’s the same with Catholics. The GOP was openly anti-Catholic, the Democrats welcomed them, so Catholics by default were Democrats.
Also a lot of the immigrants were socialist, or inclined that way. Even those who weren’t were working people and thus naturally inclined to the party that portrayed itself as listening to the workers rather than the bosses.
FDR did the Jews a lot of favors, or at least seemed to, even though he ruthlessly enforced the immigration laws, and refused to bomb the tracks to the death camps (but they mostly didn’t know that). And of course he became popular with everyone, not just Jews, hence his three re-elections. Then Truman recognised Israel while the GOP was hostile to it; that helped cement people’s attitudes. The fact that he also enforced the arms embargo and thus tried to prevent Israel from defending itself didn’t come through as much, because almost everyone was doing the same.
By now it’s become a matter of family tradition, especially among families that have mostly or completely abandoned the Jewish religion, and thus their entire Jewish identity is tied up in such matters as refusing to celebrate Xmas, and voting Democrat. Those who still keep the religion are more inclined to vote Republican nowadays.
Doesn’t take much to set off the mentally unstable. The welcome they get from the left for joining in its casual belli of the month is enough.
The “Mentally unstable” describes all muslims!
They should have beaten the crap out of him and thrown him out into traffic.
Jews aren’t christian. There is no need to turn the other cheek.
Unfortunately their history has been as sheep. It wasn’t until Israel was formed that a backbone developed. Had this occurred in Israel I can imagine a different ending!
That is an underserved criticism. Plenty of Jews fought in WW2 my father among them. Plenty of Jews living in what is now Israel fought in WW2 for the British. My grandfather fought in WW1 against the Germans. There were plenty of Jews in the German army prior to Hitler. Some reached the rank of general. The Jews in Warsaw were part of the uprising although they were separate from the nonJews due to polish antisemitism.
Central Synagogue is a leftist establishment, and whatever doctrine they preach there has little to do with Judaism. But my guess is that most voted against Mamdani.
From their website:
Join Central’s committed, involved, progressive, and passionate Reform Jewish community today.
https://www.centralsynagogue.org/
Yes. As I said, what they preach there has more in common with leftist orthodoxy than with the Torah. But before the election the synagogue’s chief minister, Angela Buchdahl, criticized Mamdani while refusing to endorse or oppose him or any candidate.
Religons are supposed to stay clear of politics. Public well know individuals are fair game. So are issues at least in my book unless you tell your congregation how to vote,
Says who?
Generally they try to, because they don’t want to upset members who have the opposite opinion.
If you’re talking about tax law, that forbids the organization from endorsing or opposing a candidate, but the clergy acting in their own capacity as individuals can do whatever they like.
No, the point here is that although she’s a committed Democrat, leading a synagogue where normally it would be taken for granted that everyone will support the Democrat candidate, she openly criticized Mamdani, and not only did no one complain about that, she was criticized for not going further and opposing his election. That’s how unpopular he was with even leftist NY Jews.
So wise that NYC bans stun guns and tasers.
Otherwise, this could have been so much worse had someone in the congregation had one..
Mamdani Comes Under Fire After Attack on Synagogue
Prosecutor: But Mamdani didn’t say anything like that
Jew Hating Man: I was reading between the lines
My friend who lived in Saudi Arabia for a few years said that Muslims will say what they think you (non-Muslim) want to hear. Remember, they are encouraged to lie to all non- Muslims. They no longer hide what they mean. They believe they are winning. Ignore what they say and watch what they do,
As Yoda says.
Chinese are like that too. Even American born Chinese.
Milhouse, see my question above.
A new political leader takes over, denouncing a certain segment of the population under his governance, a “jus’ lahk that,” said segment of folks are attacked on the street and in their houses of worship. Then the Reichstage Building fire extinguishers disappear, businesses are destroyed, property confiscated, and trains start running on schedule into the countryside. History does more than rhyme.
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