New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stood by his decision to single out Jewish people over social distancing violations after being blasted with accusations of anti-Semitism.
De Blasio said his Tuesday Twitter outburst was in response to a funeral for a rabbi that drew hundreds of visitors. The funeral was broken up by police, and in his tweets, the mayor vowed to continue breaking up future social gatherings. During a press conference on Wednesday, he was asked if he would apologize to the Jewish community, which expressed concerns about growing anti-Semitism in the city.
“I spoke last night out of passion. It was deeply, deeply, distressing. Again, this is a community I love. This is a community I’ve spent a lot of time working with closely. And if you saw anger and frustration, you’re right. I spoke out of real distress that people’s lives were in danger before my eyes, and I was not going to tolerate it.”
He continued, “I regret if the way I said it in any way gave people a feeling of being treated the wrong way. That was not my intention. It was said with love, but it was tough love. It was anger and frustration.”
De Blasio pushed back against claims that other groups of people have been gathering in the city, saying it was only the Orthodox Jews who continued to do so.
“It’s not happened in other places. Let’s be honest. This kind of gathering has happened in only a few places, and it cannot continue. It’s endangering the lives of people in the community,” he said, adding, “It was thousands of people. Can we just have an honest conversation here?”
The mayor said he would not tolerate any anti-Semitism that could precipitate from his remarks, saying, “For decades, I’ve made it my business to stand up for the Jewish community, and people know that. Won’t tolerate anti-Semitism. Won’t allow it to grow in this city.”
“I want to be clear: I have no regrets about calling out this danger and saying we’re going to deal with it very, very aggressively,” he added.
On Tuesday night, de Blasio tweeted, “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: The time for warnings has passed. 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.”
Many condemned his remarks, including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who wrote, “Generalizing against the whole population is outrageous especially when so many are scapegoating Jews. This erodes the very unity our city needs now more than ever.”
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have been on the rise over the past year, especially against Orthodox Jewish communities. The city held a march against anti-Semitism to bring awareness to the problem in January.
