New York's beleaguered Jews strike back against Governor Cuomo

Although the Founding Fathers had great respect for the American Jewish community, it's true that anti-Semitism has cropped up in America.  Until recently, though, it was seen in personal animosity (sometimes on a large scale, as with the Leo Frank lynching).  There was no coordinated government action to attack Jews.

Things are different now.  Governor Andrew Cuomo has gone full medieval, accusing Jews of spreading the Wuhan virus and attacking them with all of his political power.  Finally, though, New York's Jews are fighting back.

Since the Wuhan virus panic began, Cuomo and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio have made it a point to target the Jewish community.  Here's just a timeline with highlights of those attacks.

As you read the timeline, keep in mind that Andrew Cuomo issued an order forcing nursing homes to accept coronavirus cases, killing between 6,000 and 11,000 senior citizens.  Also, note that Jews have not had higher rates of the Wuhan virus than other New York City communities:

Coronavirus deaths among Asians in New York have been twice as high among whites and approaching five times as high among Latinos and African-Americans. New York City's worst death rates were not in Borough Park or Williamsburg, but in a Bronx neighborhood, in East New York, in Flushing, Queens, in Far Rockaway, and in Brighton Beach.

None of those are Chassidic neighborhoods. Only one has a significant Orthodox population.

Nor are the highest positive rates in Orthodox or Chassidic areas. You have to get through five Queens neighborhoods before making it to Borough Park. And Borough Park, and most Brooklyn neighborhoods, except East New York, are far below Queens and Bronx neighborhoods when it comes to cases per population. Borough Park is only the 49th highest zip code in actual mortality rates, Williamsburg is in 79th place.

And yet the insistence that the outbreak is an Orthodox Jewish problem is ubiquitous. It pops up in the media and in rhetoric by top Democrats that stigmatizes religious Jews for the virus.

April 2020: Mayor de Blasio ferociously attacked New York's Jews for holding a funeral, despite the community having first cleared the funeral with the local authorities.

June 15, 2020: The City of New York locked a Brooklyn Park where Orthodox Jewish children played.  The Jewish community cut the lock.

July 10, 2020: Mayor de Blasio exempted Black Lives Matter protests from the ban on large events.

August 19, 2020: Mayor de Blasio blamed a Jewish wedding for being a "super-spreader" event.

September 2, 2020: Governor Cuomo attacked Jewish weddings and promised to go after them.

October 5, 2020: Governor Cuomo announced that he would impose lockdowns on schools in New York City "hotspots."  Probably not coincidentally, these are areas that have large orthodox Jewish populations.

October 7, 2020: Mayor de Blasio, who has allowed months of Black Lives Matter protests and mask-burnings, told the Chassidic Jewish community that he "will not tolerate" any protests they may make against new lockdown orders against their community.

October 9, 2020: Cuomo threatened to shut down Jewish houses of worship.  Earlier, he had issued an order that only ten people could attend religious services, no matter a synagogue's size.  The order was to go into effect on October 9, which was the holy day of Hoshana Rabbah, which is followed by the festivals of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah.  In the video below, note the big police presence for a truly peaceful protest.  Note too, the Trump flags, which may explain some of Cuomo and de Blasio's increasingly open hatred for this community:

 

October 13, 2020: Muslims in Flushing, Queens, hold mass street gatherings to observe Arbaeen, which honors Mohammed's grandson, whom a Sunni caliph killed, permanently sundering Sunni and Shiite Muslims.  Both Cuomo and de Blasio are silent.

October 15, 2020: In a scene reminiscent of Nazis hunting for Jews, New York government operatives spy on and take pictures inside Jewish schools to make sure no children are getting educated.

Finally, the Jews are fighting back.  On October 8, acting through its lawyer, a synagogue sent a demand letter to Andrew Cuomo, accusing him of unconstitutionally discriminating against a specific religious group and demand that he immediately stop doing so.

When Cuomo did not back down from orders manifestly intended to limit Jewish worship, Ronald Coleman and Harmeet Dhillon, this time acting on behalf of three synagogues, filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against New York State and Cuomo in the Southern District of New York.  The complaint has a detailed rundown of the insults Andrew Cuomo offered the Jewish community based on nothing more than "fear."  How very medieval of him.  The complaint also explains how religiously and emotionally damaging these orders are to people who escaped Nazi persecution so they could live freely and practice their faith.

Governor Cuomo responded to the complaint with the equivalent of a giant Eff You:

 

The message that Jews in America should be getting is that today's Democrat party doesn't just hate Israel, something leftist Jews were willing to tolerate.  Today's Democrat party hates Jews, particularly those who take their faith seriously.

The reform Jews who are still hoping that the left doesn't come for them would do well to remember that the left is thorough.  As Pastor Martin Niemöller discovered, after they've come for everyone else, they'll still come for you.

Image: Jews protest targeted lockdowns in New York.  YouTube screen grab.

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