A suspect appeared in a
New York court on Sunday charged with five counts of attempted murder after a stabbing spree at a rabbi's suburban house that left Hanukkah celebrants throwing furniture to defend themselves.
![Suspect denies stabbing five at New York rabbis home](http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/1b3a62f84171193bc10689a9da8c1adf4cf00a85.jpg)
Grafton Thomas, 37, allegedly entered the property in Monsey, Rockland County, during celebrations on Saturday evening for the Jewish Hanukkah festival, knifing several people with a machete before fleeing.
The attack at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg was quickly condemned as another incident underscoring growing anti-Semitic violence in the United States.