Bill de Blasio Under Fire After Blasting “Jewish Community” Over Massive Brooklyn Funeral

By Nicholas Williams

Mayor Bill de Blasio received backlash after sending a controversial tweet that targeted the “Jewish community” after a large, packed funeral was held in Brooklyn on Tuesday night.

The New York Police Department, as well as an enraged de Blasio, dispersed a funeral gathering of what was believed to be over 2,000 Hasidic Jewish mourners. The funeral was held in Williamsburg for a well-respected rabbi, Chaim Mertz, who died of COVID-19.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued social distancing rules in March to combat the spread of COVID-19. He had said that those who broke these rules would be issued a fine or a summons.

“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,” de Blasio tweeted on Tuesday.

The tweet was immediately hit with backlash, with many users accusing de Blasio of being a “Nazi.” One user commented on the tweet, “As a Jewish person from Brooklyn NY, I’m disgusted by this. How in the world do you tweet “the Jewish community” You are the mayor of the biggest Jewish population. antisemitism has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. Don’t tweet an apology, You should resign Immediately.”

No one was arrested at the funeral, but Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Wednesday that 12 summonses were issued following the event. He warned people that events like this will be broken up immediately.

“People have to be accountable for their own actions, regardless of what neighborhood, ethnicity, where they come from, we cannot have what we had last night. We will not tolerate it,” Shea said.

“We have lost so many these last two months + I understand the instinct to gather to mourn. But large gatherings will only lead to more deaths + more families in mourning. We will not allow this. I have instructed the NYPD to have one standard for this whole city: zero tolerance,” de Blasio said in another tweet.

The Synagogue released a statement regarding the planned funeral, “We came up with a plan to have many streets closed so that people participate and walk the coffin while following the social distancing rules and wearing masks. People walk the streets daily, thus, a funeral – we thought – shouldn’t be different, as long the rules are followed. Unfortunately, this didn’t pan out, and NYPD had to disperse the crowds,” said Jacob Mertz, a spokesman for the synagogue.

De Blasio later walked back his tweet and said that his words had no malicious intent. He apologized to people if they felt offended, but also said that he had “no regrets about calling out the danger.”

This wasn’t the first time during the pandemic that a Hasidic Jewish community was held accountable for holding a large social gathering in Brooklyn. A video surfaced online of a funeral held on April 1 for a 96-year-old rabbi Yosef Leifer, according to the New York Post. Dozens of mourners flocked to the streets of Midwood, breaking social distancing rules. No arrests, summonses, or fines were issued, as by the time police arrived at the scene the event was over.

Days later on April 4, another massive funeral was held for Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Meislish in Williamsburg. The funeral sparked a police response to enforce social distancing rules, but no one was penalized for the event.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on April 6 called out the Jewish community to refrain from large religious gatherings and stated that the NYPD will do what they need to do to enforce social distancing rules.

“I understand religious gatherings, I understand the Jewish Orthodox community. I’m very close to them and I have been for many, many years. But now is not the time for large religious gatherings,” Cuomo said. “We’ve paid this price already. We’ve learned this lesson.”