Tuesday night, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took to Twitter to threaten Jews who had gathered for a funeral and pay their respects to an Orthodox Jewish rabbi amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In a tweet, de Blasio wrote that his “message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.” Following his tweet, Blasio received harsh criticism in return for his statement.
Mayor Bill 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.” he wrote.
The funeral on Tuesday night was for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, who died from COVID-19, according to The Yeshiva World. More than 2,500 people in the Orthodox Jewish community were in attendance, police said.
Investigative reporter and Fox News contributor Sara A. Carter fired back at de Blasio on Twitter, saying his statement is “antisemitic” and urged the New York Mayor to “delete” his tweet and issue an “apology”. Continued Below
“This is an antisemitic statement. Delete it w/ an apology @NYCMayor …further, your authoritarian tactics are anti-American as well and I can’t imagine the NYPD targeting Jews that are gathering. We need to pay attention to what is happening to our nation because of fear,” Carter fired off.
As reported by Sara A Carter, De Blasio defended his words in his Wednesday news conference saying it “was said with love, but it was tough love” pledging that he “won’t tolerate antisemitism” while condemning the Jewish community for “putting each other in danger and our police officers in danger.”
He concluded, “If in my passion and in my emotion, I said something that in any way was hurtful, I’m sorry about that, that was not my intention. But I also want to be clear, I’ve no regrets about calling out this danger and saying we’re going to deal with it very, very aggressively.” Video Below
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s official tweet:
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
Sara A. Carter’s official tweet:
This is an antisemitic statement. Delete it w/ an apology @NYCMayor …further, your authoritarian tactics are anti-American as well and I can't imagine the NYPD targeting Jews that are gathering.
We need to pay attention to what is happening to our nation because of fear https://t.co/FLoelp8WYE— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) April 29, 2020
Bill de Blasio defended his tweet on Wednesday:
After singling out the Jewish community and threatening them with arrest, @NYCMayor wants everyone to know that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated.
"It was said with love, but it was tough love." pic.twitter.com/dvoi4ua49f
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) April 29, 2020
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Others on Twitter weighed in voicing their disgust with Bill de Blasio’s message aimed at the Jewish community:
Co-founder of The Federalist, Sean Davis wrote:
New York City’s mayor just ordered police to start rounding up Jews. https://t.co/87IeFFk2yc
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 29, 2020
John Cardillo noted:
Nothing to see here pic.twitter.com/kJHHgjeRAA
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) April 29, 2020
Or else what Bill? You gonna round up the Jews? Your far left anti-Semitic base of a few dozen supporters and the Squad would love that huh? You’ll never win another election in your life. The police @NYCPBA will refuse your idiotic orders. What an unbelievably disgusting tweet.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 29, 2020
Is this for real? I keep logging back in to make sure this isn’t a Bill De Blasio parody account bc this comment is so insane!
Literal N A Z I— DeAnna Lorraine 🇺🇸 (@DeAnna4Congress) April 29, 2020
Should people call the cops directly if they see a group of Jews or do you have a special unit assigned to take care of your Jewish problem?
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) April 29, 2020
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Oh look everyone, the Democrat Mayor of New York is an anti-semite who wants to round up Jewish People like hitler did…
I won’t wait up for the outrage from the left.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) April 29, 2020
Nazi
— Jack Posobiec ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@JackPosobiec) April 29, 2020
Literally Hitler.
— Joey Saladino (@JoeySalads) April 29, 2020
Going after Jewish people doesn’t erase your failure to order supplies until a week into March or failure to help nursing homes transfer coronavirus patients to Javits or Comfort.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) April 29, 2020
I genuinely do not understand how someone could tweet this and think its a good idea. My god. This is shameful.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) April 29, 2020
