"Fake Jews": Attacker at New York synagogue wanted to convert
Larry Montes, 46, who burst into a Friday night service at a Reform synagogue in Manhattan and struck a congregant, called those present "fake Jews" after his arrest. The "Forward" found posts on his Facebook page supporting Israel, and his aunt said he wanted to convert. Police had previously classified him as an "emotionally disturbed person."
The man who attacked the Friday night service at Central Synagogue in Manhattan acted, it seems, out of hostility toward the Reform community, according to the American Jewish newspaper "Forward." According to the investigation, Larry Montes, 46, from the Bronx, who is mentally unstable, expressed support for Israel and criticism of Mayor Zoran Mamdani in a series of social media posts, and after his arrest, he called the congregants "fake Jews."
Central Synagogue, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 55th Street in Manhattan, is one of the largest and oldest Reform synagogues in New York and one of the most well-known in the world. The attack took place on Friday around 6:00 PM New York time.
According to the New York Police Department, Montes entered the premises, approached the front of the sanctuary, and began to disrupt the prayer. When security personnel tried to remove him, he struck a 63-year-old congregant in the face, causing a cut to her lip and an injury to her right hand, headbutted a security guard and spat on him, and shattered two candlesticks with an estimated value of $20,000.
He was arrested at the scene and charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime. According to the prosecutor, he called the congregants at the scene "pigs" and "fake Jews" after his arrest.
According to the "Forward," on a Facebook page that likely belongs to Montes, he shared two videos critical of Mamdani in June, one comparing the mayor to Iran's first Supreme Leader Khomeini and the other accusing him of betraying the city's Latino communities. In 2024, he posted a picture of a map of Israel with the caption "Keep Israel in your hearts." The latest posts on the page are more confused and include screenshots of attempts to translate garbled Spanish texts into Hebrew.
Montes's aunt, Miriam, told the "New York Post" that her nephew wanted to convert.
"He is mentally hurt because of his desire to belong to this religion, that's what he said himself. In light of what happened, it is possible he was not of sound mind," she said.
However, she added that she had not spoken to her nephew in the last three months.
According to the police, Montes was arrested three times between 2019 and 2023 for violent robbery and was known to them as an "emotionally disturbed person." He is expected to appear in court this coming Thursday.
Hours after the incident, Israel's Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, blamed the mayor.
"The attack at Central Synagogue in Manhattan is a direct result of the ongoing incitement campaign by Mayor Mamdani. I warned that words would turn into actions, and that is exactly what is happening. Mamdani has failed to protect the Jews of New York. Weak condemnations are not enough; action is required," he wrote on X.
