Jewish leaders call COVID rules ‘blatantly anti-Semitic’

NEW YORK — Three Rockland County Jewish congregations are suing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying he engaged in a “streak of anti-Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state’s coronavirus infection rate.

The Manhattan federal court 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.

Cuomo’s statements 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 five 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 kilometres) north of New York City — where two congregations in the new lawsuit are based.

The state said six coronavirus clusters in areas comprising 2.8% of the state’s population have appeared in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rockland 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 gatherings in the COVID-19 hot spots to 25% capacity, or a maximum of 10 people.

The 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 colour 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 Orthodox 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 co-operative,” he said. “There’s a relatively small number that’s unco-operative, and just believe they should be exempt from these government operations.”

Cuomo also said it seems the spread of new infections in clusters where he imposed restrictions has levelled 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 federal judge in Brooklyn cited the state’s interest in protecting public safety in ruling in the governor’s favour 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 “full-blown second wave” like those occurring worldwide.

“We cannot 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.

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Associated Press Writer Marina Villeneuve in Albany contributed to this report.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press