World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said on Wednesday that his organization should formally censure NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio for singling out the Jewish community for violating coronavirus restrictions.
“My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed,” de Blasio threatened on Twitter in response to a Brooklyn funeral procession Tuesday which included hundreds of Orthodox Jews. “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.”
Lauder wrote in a statement: “Last night, the Mayor painted the Jewish community as lawbreakers and unconcerned about the city’s public health… [T]o blame the entire Jewish community is the type of stereotyping that is dangerous and unacceptable at any time, and particularly pernicious while the world is gripped in fear and the worst among us are looking for scapegoats.”
Lauder added that de Blasio was feeding into the “dangerous agenda of white supremacists and antisemites around the world. It needs to end.”