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A video posted Wednesday, Aug. 28 which was widely circulated, included phrases that portrayed a housing development for Hasidic Jews as a “threat.”
James called the video “deeply disturbing” in a post on social media.
“The anti-Semitic video from the Rockland County GOP is deeply disturbing. They must remove & condemn it. Saying that members of the Jewish community are a threat to families, our safety & that they must be stopped is despicable," James added. “We must all stand together to denounce this hate.”
Rockland County Republican Chairman Lawrence Garvey said that “this is not, nor has it ever been a religious issue. It is an issue of right and wrong.”
The caption for the since-removed video stated, “The stakes have never been higher. The future of our County, our communities, and our homes hangs in the balance of this year.”
“For those not living in Rockland, it is harder to see a real and unique problem that exists here. The people of Rockland have become desperate for attention to the problems facing our communities and many live every day with the threat of losing their homes and neighborhoods, Garvey said.
“Anyone who dares speak up about overdevelopment, corruption, or education is immediately labeled as anti-Semitic without any concern for facts or without any idea of the true issues at hand.”
The video singles out Rockland's Hasidic legislator, Aron Weider, saying that he and the politicians, developers, and residents he represents, "the Ramapo bloc," seek to over-develop the western end of the county and to spread their political power across Rockland.
Garvey went on to add, "Many of these problems have been documented in the press, but have still gone unresolved. The purpose of the video was to point out the critical situation that is ahead in the upcoming election and the critical impact that redistricting will have on our County.
"This is a Rockland issue and not one that needs to be debated on a larger scale nor is it about anything other than the issue that faces us here."
On Twitter, Wieder stated "it is a dark day in Rockland where such a shameful video has come to light."
The reaction to the video forced Rockland County Executive Ed Day to cancel a news conference on Thursday, Aug. 29 and prompted him to ask Garvey to remove the controversial video.
In a statement before the video was taken down, Day said: "the content of the video is factual, the tone and undercurrent is unacceptable.”
“The video posted by the Rockland County Republican Party to their Facebook page has set a troubling tone for a necessary conversation about overdevelopment in our county,” Day said in a statement. “While the content of the video is factual, the tone and undercurrent is unacceptable.
“As I have demonstrated, I have a great deal of respect for our Jewish neighbors and want them to know that as their County Executive I will always stand up against hatred. That said, the concerns raised about overdevelopment are accurate, well-grounded and desperately need to be addressed, but this must be done in a way free of rhetoric and rancor."
Rabbi Yisroel Kahan of Monsey tweeted: "This is way worse than a thug punching, or throwing a rock. This took hours of planning and editing. It was a calculated move by the Rockland County GOP and those responsible MUST be held accountable”
"Criticism of municipal policy is not inherently bigoted even when it involves an ethnic group,” the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council said in a statement. “But in some corners of Rockland County, especially on Facebook groups and among the political class in the Town of Clarkstown, the narrative for years has been that virtually every wrong in Rockland County involves Hasidim, and everything involving Hasidim anywhere in the world is wrong.
"Almost all items on those Facebook pages are anti-Hasidim-based, filled with verifiable lies and contradictory accusations.”
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