A Jewish barber was stabbed with his own scissors after a customer became enraged over the Gaza war and shouted: “I'm going to kill you, you damn Jew,” the victim said.
Ahmed Al-Jabbari, 34, was getting his long beard trimmed by Yonkers barber Slava Shushakova on August 29 when he began yelling profanities against Israel, turning the trimming into a bloodbath, according to the victim and city officials.
“He hit me once and I asked him to stop. [leave] “He would come to my store and he would stop coming to the store,” Shushakova, who had seen Al-Jabari in her neighborhood for years, told The Post. “He wouldn't come, and he said, 'No, I have to end it.' [you]and then I go. That was his wish.
“He told me: 'This is the right thing to do and he is right. As a Muslim, I have the right to punish Jews,'” Shushakova said, adding that Al-Jabbari also said he wanted to set the shop on fire.
“If I gave him the chance, he would try to do this.”
Shushakova told The Post that before the tirade, Al-Jabbari had been talking about Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza while getting his hair trimmed at the Yonkers Avenue shop.
According to the complaint, the barber tried to convince Al-Jabbari to change the subject, but it didn't work, and in a flash the customer grabbed a pair of Jagger scissors from the counter and lunged at the 51-year-old barber, yelling vile anti-Semitic threats.
Shushakova told Al-Jabbari that the cuts were serious and that he would likely go to prison, but the barber said that didn't matter to the crazy attacker, who said he didn't care about prison and wasn't afraid of dying.
Ms Shushakova tried to dodge the attack, and was at least partially successful: despite Jabari's best efforts, the scissors failed to slice through her head or body, the report said.
“Thank God he didn't touch my face because he tried to hit me in another way,” Shushakova said. “I stopped him with my own hand.”
He grabbed a kitchen knife to fight back, but Al-Jabbari fled. Police arrested him a short time later.
According to Shushakova, Jabari, who is from Yemen, is currently charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime.
Authorities transported the barber to a hospital, where he said he needed 30 stitches to repair his severe wounds.
Shushakova suffered deep cuts on her right hand and wrist, was covered in blood and will be unable to work for at least a month, possibly longer.
His shop has been closed since the attack and he may not be able to work for a month, or longer.
Meanwhile, Al-Jabbari was charged and transported to the Westchester County Jail, where he remained after his arraignment Friday in Yonkers Criminal Court, city officials said.
He is being held without bail until his next court date.
Shushakova said she knew al-Jabbari, who has a long criminal record, from her neighborhood and claimed she once heard him say that Iran was going to blow up Israel.
Shushakova said the man would often come into the shop asking for money or to charge his phone, but he was never a customer and never paid the barber a penny.
Barber added that Al-Jabbari had been aggressive and likely had been drinking on the day of the attack, and said he considered chasing him away but did not want to antagonize him any further.
“He didn't want to pay. He said: 'I don't have the money, but please do it for me.' So I did it for him because I didn't want to cause any problems. I could see that he was very aggressive, drunk and refused to move,” Shushakova said.
Shushakova, a native of Uzbekistan, believes Al-Jabbari was radicalised by disinformation about the war in Gaza, which has been going on for almost a year since last October.
Al-Jabbari has been arrested at least four times in the past two years, most recently in July for allegedly threatening his mother and breaking a window in her home in violation of a restraining order. According to the Journal News.
He was charged with criminal contempt and other offenses in that case.
Ironically, Shushakova said, Jabari's mother, whom he has known for many years, came and apologized for her son's violent and erratic behavior.
“She said, 'I'm sorry about what happened,'” Shushakova said. “And she said, 'He has to pay the price for this.' She's happy he's going to prison.”
He agreed that al-Jabbari should be jailed for decades if possible.
“I think he should be in prison for at least 20 years,” Shushakova said. “He shouldn't be out and he doesn't know what to do out there.”
“If he is 34 and attacks people for no reason, then what? For jihad?” Shushakova asked.
“He tried to kill me and he should stay in prison.”
