“We are standing here today because we want the Jewish community to know that we believe this was rooted in anti-Semitism,” Ms. Rollins said. “There wasn’t any yelling or screaming, as you would expect, ‘I hate Jews.’”Mr. Weymouth said he had asked the court to have a doctor examine Mr. Awad and the doctor had recommended that Mr. Awad be sent to Bridgewater State Hospital. Mr. Awad will be held there for the next 20 to 30 days to determine whether he is competent to stand trial and whether he has mental health issues that could have affected his ability to determine right from wrong on the day of the attack, Mr. Weymouth said. Mr. Weymouth said that some mental health issues, which he was unable to immediately describe, “may very well be the explanation here.”The stabbing came after an outbreak of anti-Semitic threats and violence across the United States this year stoked fear among Jews in small towns and major cities. During two weeks of clashes in Israel and Gaza in May, the Anti-Defamation League collected 222 reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and violence in the United States, compared with 127 over the previous two weeks.

Source: New York Times July 08, 2021 22:41 UTC