Late Tuesday night, New York City’s incompetent, liberal mayor, Bill de Blasio, tweeted about the city’s Jewish community following a funeral in Williamsburg. Local Jewish people had gathered to mourn in large numbers, but many were wearing masks and had actually received preapproval from de Blasio’s own government.
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.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 29, 2020
This Funeral was originally approved and actually organized by @NYPDnews 2 hours b4 it started, PD brought trucks with barriers/tower lights to close off Bedford Avenue and the surrounding area. It’s the @NYCMayor’s Dept who originally approved it before deciding to take it back. https://t.co/i1EtGvCkKO
— Satmar Headquarters (@HQSatmar) April 29, 2020
The mayor not only targeted the Jewish community specifically, but threatened them with arrest. There are approximately 1.2 million Jews in New York City, and de Blasio’s tweet is not only anti-Semitic but possibly unconstitutional, particularly if he follows through.
First Liberty, a legal organization in Texas that specializes in religious freedom, immediately offered its expertise and guidance to the New York Police Department, should they object to following an order that would violate an entire Jewish community’s right to free exercise and free speech during a time of mourning.
In a press release, First Liberty Institute’s President, CEO, and Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford condemned de Blasio’s remarks:
The mayor’s comments and the subsequent backlash come after a bevy of lawsuits against local and state officials nationwide who have targeted churches, pastors, and religious groups for meeting during the coronavirus crisis, even if they were following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.
As frustrating as it may be for government officials or law enforcement to observe swaths of people gathering in numbers that still seem too large amid the coronavirus, many people, religious or not, are going to start going out again soon. A threat that denies New Yorkers’ constitutional rights and carries with it a demand for the police to enforce it is a serious one indeed.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
