New York Politicians Have Fostered Chaos by Singling Out Orthodox Jews

On Tuesday, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo announced neighborhood-specific lockdowns in areas with high rates of coronavirus infection, making explicit the fact that these “red zones” hold large concentrations of Orthodox Jews, and threatening synagogue closures if restrictions aren’t observed. In response, anti-lockdown protests erupted in ḥasidic parts of Brooklyn last night, resulting in at least two instances of intrareligious violence. Jonathan Tobin writes that, although the problem of Orthodox noncompliance with social-distancing measures is a real one, Cuomo—like New York City’s hapless mayor Bill De Blasio—has needlessly encouraged anti-Jewish hostility:

The spectacle of Orthodox Jews taking to the streets this week in closely packed crowds, eschewing masks (and in one case, even burning them) to protest Cuomo’s new edicts, cannot be defended. Yet it’s equally fair to ask questions that were raised [previously] when Mayor De Blasio singled out “the Jewish community” as such as the sole source of COVID scofflaws. It’s also reasonable to ask by what logic, let alone scientific principle, they are making decisions that mandate the closing of religious institutions while allowing other secular activities to go on unhindered.

Just as importantly, why have Cuomo and De Blasio, as well as so many other local and state leaders around the nation, treated religious activities and protests against these restrictions as inherently illegitimate and illegal while turning a blind eye towards the mass protests and violence in the streets that have taken place under the banner of the Black Lives Matter movement?

As those “mostly peaceful” protests continued and violence spread, governments that sent cops to shut down synagogues and churches, close playgrounds, or arrest people without masks—while doing little or nothing to stop rioters—lost whatever credibility they once had. If preventing looting by non-socially distanced criminals is not a government priority but stopping people from praying in a house of worship is, something is profoundly wrong, and it’s no good blaming people—whether they are Orthodox Jews or anyone else—for noticing.

Seen from that perspective, the anger of the Ḥaredim who have been resisting COVID-19 restrictions can be understood, if not excused, as a natural reaction to hypocritical policies and a troubling willingness to make the easily identifiable Orthodox Jewish community the scapegoats for the pandemic.

Read more at JNS

More about: American Jewry, Bill de Blasio, Coronavirus, Hasidim, New York City

How Senator Schumer Put Short-Sighted Partisan Interest over Jewish Concerns

Last week, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce reported on its investigation into anti-Semitism on college campuses. Among the revelations therein is information about the role played behind the scenes by the Senatate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who often touts his own role as “protector” (in Hebrew, shomer) of his fellow Jews in the halls of power. Seth Mandel comments:

The leaders of Columbia, where the anti-Semitism was and is among the worst in the country, eventually came before Congress in April. Three months earlier, President Minouche Shafik met with Schumer, and the supposed shomer told her that Democrats had no problem with her and that only Republicans cared about the anti-Semitism crisis on campus. His office advised Shafik not to meet with Republicans on the Hill. When the Columbia Trustees co-chair David Greenwald texted the previous co-chair Jonathan Lavine about the situation, Lavine responded by saying, “Let’s hope the Dems win the house back.” Greenwald wrote back: “Absolutely.”

This is the message that Schumer had sent about anti-Semitism on campus and that message came through loud and clear: investigations into Jew-hatred would only occur under a Republican majority. Putting Democrats in charge would put a stop to the government’s efforts to help Jews on campus.

Though the Jewish vote is, as always, unlikely to cost Democrats the election, it is simply undeniable that non-Republicans and non-conservatives are fairly disgusted with the type of behavior displayed by Schumer.

Read more at Commentary

More about: Anti-Semitism, Chuck Schumer, Israel on campus, U.S. Politics