New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing new allegations of antisemitism after he threatened to cut off public assistance to yeshivas, or religious seminaries, this weekend, and added that some Jews had “never complied” with coronavirus rules.
New York CBS affiliate WLNY reported:
As enforcement ramps up in the city’s COVID-19 cluster zones, the governor again made it clear on a telephone conference call on Thursday who he felt the problem was.
“Some of the complexity in the enforcement here, especially with members of the ultra Orthodox community. They have never complied with the rules,” Cuomo said.
The governor’s words came a day after he announced he would withhold funding from local governments that do not enforce the rules at schools, including yeshivas.
“If the local government does not effectively enforce the law, we will withhold funds from the local government… If they don’t, we will withhold funding from the government. I don’t like to do that. Budgets are tough all across the board. I don’t know how else to get them to do the enforcement they need to do. So, hopefully that will motivate them because nothing else I have done has motivated them – not my rapier wit, not my sense of humor, not my guilt, not my blame, not my admonition, and not my pleas. Maybe money works,” Cuomo said.
Some groups were outraged, saying that the governor was invoking medieval prejudices against Jews, a claim Cuomo’s office strongly rejected, citing “a long history of friendship with the community that dates back to his father.”
Breitbart
