Andrew Cuomo Calls Hanukkah Stabbing ‘Domestic Terrorism’: ‘This Is an American Cancer’

New York governor Andrew Cuomo condemned anti-Semitism as an “epidemic of hate” as he spoke about the Saturday night stabbing attack on five people at a Hanukkah gathering at a rabbi’s home.

Cuomo spoke to CNN’s Martin Savidge after denouncing the attack on Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg’s house as “domestic terrorism” earlier on Sunday. Cuomo said he arrived at that determination because “unless you’re living on another planet, you’re fully aware of what’s going on in this country and the rash of hate crimes that has been going on.”

Cuomo continued to explain that the attack was clearly terrorism since it was a “hate motivated act to instill fear” in Jewish people. “Nobody wants to call it what it is,” Cuomo said, “because it’s frightening. Nobody likes the diagnosis of cancer. Well, this is an American cancer.”

“The government’s job is to act; number one, to keep people safe. We’re going to increase police presence for all the Jewish communities, especially the Orthodox Jewish communities. But then I want to pass along the state of New York that calls these acts what they are. It’s terrorism. It’s domestic terrorism. Call it what it is. Let’s be honest about the problem and then let’s prosecute it as a terrorism crime.”

As Cuomo called for government action in the wake of the stabbing, he drew a connection between the incident and other bigoted attacks against other communities America has seen in recent years.

“Put all these episodes together, connect the dots and see the pattern of hate that is destroying this country’s soul,” Cuomo lamented.

President Donald Trump called the attack “horrific” after Cuomo’s interview, but since he used his first tweets of the day to bash House Speaker Nancy Pelosi instead of commenting on the stabbing, the governor was asked if he had any thoughts about that. Cuomo didn’t call out Trump directly, but he did allude to “an atmosphere of hate and anger that is pervasive in this country” and emanates from the “political polarization” of Washington D.C.

“We are consuming ourselves. We are fighting with one another. I call it an American cancer because it’s one cell in the body politic attacking other cells,” Cuomo said. “We have an epidemic of hate. It’s an American cancer, call it what it is. It’s domestic terrorism and let’s address it and stand up as one nation and say we are indivisible, we are united.”

Watch above, via CNN.