Jewish leaders call COVID-19 rules ‘blatantly anti-Semitic’
NEW YORK >> Three Rockland County Jewish congregations are suing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, say ing he engaged in a “streak of anti- Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state’s c or on av i r us infection rate.
The Manhattan federal cour t lawsuit filed late Wednesday accused the Democrat of making negative, false, and discriminatory statements about the Jewish Orthodox community as he imposed new coronavirus measures to counter the state’s rising infection rate in so- called “red zone” areas.
C uomo’s s t at ement s and actions were painful for residents in an area north of New York City where a man invaded a Hanukkah celebration in December and stabbed or slashed f ive people, the lawsuit said. Grafton Thomas awaits trial after pleading not guilty.
The attack occurred in Monsey — near the New Jersey state line about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City — where two congregations in the new lawsuit are based.
The state said six coronav ir us clusters in areas comprising 2.8% of t he st at e’s popu lat ion have appeared in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rock land counties, necessitating the closing of schools and nonessential businesses and limits on gatherings.
The new measures announced Oct. 6 have resulted in temporarily limiting the size of religious gathering sin the COVID-19 hot spots to 25% capacity, or a maximum of 10 people.
T he limits prompted several federal lawsuits, including two in Brooklyn and one in Albany.
The latest lawsuit said Cuomo’s order was“blatantly anti-Semitic, creating religious- observance based color coded ‘ hot- spot’ zones directed towards particular Jewish communities.”
The lawsuit said his action“not only flagrantly flies directly in the face of scientific evidence” and a court order limiting what measures the state can take. It also “specifically
singles out the Or tho - dox Jewish community in what has proven to be the latest extension of Governor Cuomo’s streak of anti- Semitic discrimination,” the lawsuit added.
Cuomo, who has said he has “respect and love” for the Orthodox community, told reporters Thursday that he was not targeting Orthodox Jewish communities. He said red zones are based on addresses of residences where more individuals are testing positive for COVID-19.
He blamed a lack of local government enforcement for some in the Orthodox Jewish community failing to follow COVID-19 gathering restrictions since the spring. He noted houses of worship can at least open in red zones, where non- essential businesses cannot.
“The majority of Ultra Orthodox groups I’ve spoken with have been cooperative,” he said. “There’s a relatively small number that’s uncooperative, and just believe they should be exempt from these government operations.”
Cu o mo also said it seems the spread of new infections in clusters where he imposed restrictions has leveled off somewhat, though it remains higher than in the rest of the state. And the number of New Yorkers hospitalized with the virus has dipped slightly, to 897 patients on Wednesday.
The lawsuit comes nearly a week after an Albany federal judge cited the state’s interest in protecting public safety in ruling in the governor’s favor in a lawsuit by rabbis and synagogues that argued the restrictions were unconstitutional.
In that lawsuit, brought by rabbis, leaders of synagogues and the national Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel, lawyers for Cuomo argued in court papers that “the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community … to communicable disease.”
Those sentiments were echoed Thursday when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, defended the governor’s moves hours before a hearing in a lawsuit in which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn fought restrictions.
He said the state was trying to stop a“fullblown second wave” like those occurring worldwide.
“We can not let that happen here. So if for a few weeks, we’re asking people to do something exceptional to help stop a problem from growing and stop it from spreading, I think that’s fair. And I think the court will understand,” he said.
Associated Press Writer Marina Villeneuve in Albany contributed to this report.