A state lawmaker is drawing fierce criticism after releasing a statement many in the Rockland Jewish community saw as antisemitic in response to the first case of polio in the county, Brooklyn News 12 reports.
The now-deleted statement from state Sen. James Skoufis singled out the infected patient as a member of the Orthodox Jewish community when that was not previously made public by county health officials. He also called out the private Jewish schools in the Town of Ramapo for having a “history of non-compliance with the state’s vaccine laws” and called for the “full force of the law on those who skirted these requirements” — even though the patient was a young adult, not a student.
Many say that this type of rhetoric must be called out to prevent future acts of antisemitism in the area.
The Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland and Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey released a joint statement saying they were extremely concerned.
“We certainly expect that singling out and stereotyping is not going to be part of the discussion when issues of public health come up,” said Ari Rosenblum, CEO of the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland.
Source: {Matzav.com}