New York police on Thursday night shut down another large Orthodox Jewish funeral, just days after Mayor Bill de Blasio drew widespread criticism for his handling of previous clashes between the police and Orthodox Jewish communities.
The funeral, which was held for a rabbi in Brooklyn, went viral after videos posted on social media depicted police chasing mourners through the streets. The incident resulted in one arrest, according to the New York Police Department.
De Blasio, on Tuesday, was accused of stoking already increasing levels of anti-Semitism within the city after he tweeted a personal account of how he broke up a funeral at which several hundred people were gathered.
“My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,” de Blasio wrote. “I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
More than 100 Jewish leaders in the city on Wednesday signed a letter denouncing de Blasio for “scapegoating” Jews in his tweet.
“In the midst of an historic wave of antisemitic hate violence in New York City, our community — like the Asian community — has been feeling the pain of being singled out and blamed for the spread of this deadly disease,” the letter said. “This singling out is especially potent because it aligns with longstanding antisemitic tropes that have, for millennia, blamed Jews for societal ills.”
De Blasio has been criticized in the past for his attitude toward Jewish people in New York, most notably when he threatened to “permanently” close synagogues that were not complying with his shelter-in-place order.
