Woman charged over stabbings of two Jewish men in Midtown; lawyer cites possible misidentification

Right · 2Anna Mochalova, a 32-year-old Brooklyn woman, was arrested at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday 24 October in the Midtown North Precinct over two Wednesday assaults on Jewish men in Midtown Manhattan, according to the NYPD. 1 2 Right · 3Police told JNS and Fox News Digital she was charged with eight counts each of assault and menacing and two counts each of aggravated harassment and criminal possession of a weapon; the NYPD spokesperson did not say whether hate-crime enhancements were included, while the New York Post reported the charges included assault as a hate crime. 1 2 3 Right · 2In the better-known attack, a 26-year-old man named Yosef, described as a Chabad rabbinical student from Crown Heights, was stabbed in the back near West 47th Street and Fifth Avenue around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, and taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. 1 2

Right · 3Police described the weapon as an "unknown sharp object"; the New York Post reported it was a syringe, while Fox News noted that police did not say whether a syringe was used or what it may have contained. 1 3 2 Right · 2Surveillance video posted by Manhattan Shomrim, a Jewish volunteer safety patrol, appears to show the suspect following Yosef around a parked car as he tries to avoid her before the stabbing. 3 2 Right · 2Yosef told the New York Post he believes he was targeted because he is "visibly Jewish" and that it was the first time he had experienced antisemitism in America; he returned to the Diamond District the next day to help Jewish men put on tefillin. 3 1

Right · 2Police say the second incident involved a 37-year-old Jewish man who was deliberately bumped and then, when he confronted the attacker, struck in the arm with a sharp object; the New York Post said she spoke Russian to him, and Fox News said he suffered a laceration and declined medical attention. 3 2 Right · 2Accounts of the sequence differ: the Post's first report put this attack at West 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue about two hours before the Diamond District stabbing, Fox News gave a location of West 45th Street and Avenue of the Americas at about 5:50 p.m. and described the Diamond District stabbing as about two hours later, and the Post's later report, citing the Manhattan DA's complaint, described a man in a yarmulke targeted two blocks away just minutes after the rabbi. 3 2 4 Right · 2The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating both incidents. 2 3

Right · 1At her arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, prosecutors alleged she bumped the second man several times, told him "run away from here. I have a gun. I'm going to shoot you," and spared a third man who told her he was Muslim; Assistant District Attorney Emily Hong said she "selected both of her targets because she believed them to be Jewish." 4 Right · 1Her lawyer, Lila Carpenter, said Mochalova has no prior arrests and is gainfully employed, and argued "there may be an ID issue" by police; Judge Linda Capitti set bail at $50,000, citing the seriousness of the allegations and surveillance video, and Mochalova is due back in court on Oct. 29. 4 Right · 2Manhattan Shomrim credited its volunteers, the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, Shomrim groups in Crown Heights and Queens, and public tips with the arrest, and a coordinator told the Post the Jewish community was "happy" with the bail decision. 2 4

Right · 2The outlets place the attacks against NYPD figures for the first nine months of 2026, which show 245 of 463 confirmed hate crimes targeted Jewish New Yorkers; JNS reported anti-Jewish hate crimes up 1.2% year on year while citywide major crime fell 6.6%, and the Post and Fox reported overall confirmed hate crimes up nearly 13%. 1 2