On the night of December 29, 2019, Grafton Thomas marched into a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration, wielding an 18” machete’, attacking the guests. During the attack 5 people were injured, one seriously.
The seriously injured man, Joseph Neumann, 72, died today of his wounds. The attack cut deeply into his skull and shattered his right arm. Neumann has been in a coma since the attack three months ago.
Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, Executive Director of Oizrim Jewish Council said, “We were hoping when he started to open his eyes, we were hoping and praying that he would then pull through. This is so very sad he was killed celebrating Hanukkah with friends just because he was a Jew.”
Grafton Thomas had journal notations of an anti-Semitic nature, “he used his phone to look up information on Hitler and the location of synagogues.” He had a history of mental illness, also.
He has been charged with five federal counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon. He also has been charged with five state counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Today, that attempt to kill Jews in his attack became a reality with the death of Joseph Neumann, 72. A man, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather. Murdered senselessly because he was Jewish.
This anti-Semitic act took place in a home where the guests gathered to celebrate Hanukkah. An event that ended with a horrific attack, five injured guests, and now with one dead.
May God comfort all who knew him, and may we commit ourselves to stand against a more potent virus than corona, the virus of Jew hatred. The antidote, the cure, is the gospel message.
(Source: Times of Israel)
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