Anti-Semitic material found among Monsey stabbing perp's possessions

His lawyer says he's mentally ill. He probably is because anyone who irrationally hates any group of people and is willing to kill strangers in that group probably is mentally ill. All racists are, in a sense, mentally ill but then again, so are many people who kill or attempt to kill other human beings. 

Prosecutors filed hate crime charges against Grafton E. Thomas, 37, the primary suspect in a Hanukkah stabbing rampage in New York that seriously wounded five people at a rabbi's home in Monsey, NY.

Handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references were found in Thomas' home and he is being charged with federal hate crimes Monday in the stabbing of five people celebrating the seventh night of Hanukkah.

Thomas was expected to appear in federal court in White Plains to face five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon and causing injuries in the Saturday attack.

A criminal complaint stated journals recovered from Thomas’ home in Greenwood Lake, NY included comments questioning “why ppl mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide” and a page with drawings of a Star of David and a swastika.

A phone recovered from his car included repeated internet searches for “Why did Hitler hate the Jews” as well as “German Jewish Temples near me” and “Prominent companies founded by Jews in America,” the complaint said.

On the day of the stabbings, the phone’s browser was used to access an article titled: “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What To Know,” the complaint said.

So maybe the attacker is mentally ill, but he allegedly premeditated the attack and clearly chose Jews as his target. Allegedly. 

However, the attacker's  smart Jewish lawyer, Michael Sussman, told reporters that he visited Thomas’ home and found stacks of notes he described as “the ramblings of a disturbed individual” but nothing to point to an “anti-Semitic motive” or suggest Thomas “intentionally targeted” the rabbi’s home.

“My impression from speaking with him is that he needs serious psychiatric evaluation,” Sussman, a lawyer, not a psychologist, said. “His explanations were not terribly coherent.”

Thomas’ family said he was raised to embrace tolerance but has a long history of mental illness, including multiple hospitalizations.

So by default, since Thomas is mentally ill and this anti-Semitic attack isn't his fault, it must be President Trump's fault for creating an environment of hate which he clearly displayed when denounced the attack, and prayed at the Wailing Wall in Israel, is good friends with Benjamin Netanyahu, made Jerusalem the site of the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and appointed his Jewish daughter and son-in-law to his staff.

Sure, that's the ticket.

Thomas’ family said his mental health deteriorated over the years. He would hear voices and have trouble completing sentences at times. The question is, were the voices commanding him to kill Jews or just kill indiscriminately?

In court papers filed in a 2013 eviction case in Utah, Thomas said he suffered from schizophrenia, depression and anxiety and his “conditions are spontaneous and untamed.”

So why wasn't he institutionalized if he's a danger to the public?


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