Man stabbed in Hanukkah attack may have brain damage, family says

NEW YORK — A man wounded in the Hanukkah stabbings north of New York City may have permanent brain damage and be partially paralyzed for the rest of his life, his family says.

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council releases a statement from the family of Josef Neumann, 71, and a graphic photograph showing severe head injuries he received Saturday at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York.

Four other people were injured in the attack, which federal prosecutors say was a hate crime.

The photograph shows an intubated Neumann with a swollen and disfigured face lying in a hospital bed. A gash to his head appears to have been stitched up.

Neumann’s family released the photograph for the world and “the Jewish community to understand the gravity of hate,” Yossi Gestetner, the council’s co-founder, says in an interview. Neumann has seven children.

“These things are vividly and viciously disturbing and have long-term consequences,” Gestetner says.

The 18-inch machete used in the attack penetrated Neumann’s skull, the statement says, adding that Neumann’s “right arm has been shattered.”

“Our father’s status is so dire that no surgery has yet been performed on the right arm,” the statement says. “Doctors are not optimistic about his chances to regain consciousness, and if our father does miraculously recover partially, doctors expect that he will have permanent damage to the brain, leaving him partially paralyzed and speech-impaired for the rest of his life.”

The statement also calls on Jewish people around the world to share their own experiences with anti-Semitism on social media using the hashtag #MeJew.

— AP

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