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In Rockland County, a Haverstraw Planning Board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 10 was interrupted by disparaging comments by a local resident about the growing Orthodox Jewish community.
“A certain sect of people tend to walk in the street, and nobody is wearing any reflective gear," the unidentified man reportedly said. "So if I run one of them over, and of course, I’m going back over them again."
The comments drew swift and decisive backlash from elected officials, from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James to other local lawmakers in the Hudson Valley.
“I have heard reports of violent rhetoric towards our Jewish community at a town meeting in Rockland,” Hochul said. “Antisemitism, like all forms of hate, is horrifying and unacceptable.
“Everyone has the right to walk down the street without fear,” she continued. “New York, we are better than this.”
Hochul said that she is directing the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist local officials in responding to the incident.
“Hateful, antisemitic speech will not be tolerated,” she said. “We will do everything we can to protect our communities from this abuse.”
Rockland County Executive Ed Day said that “there is an intelligent and respectful way to make your point and this is clearly not that.”
“This is beyond disgusting and not what the people of Rockland are all about. We can disagree, argue and quarrel but the line is crossed when you (make that threat,” he said.
“This discourse is utterly ignorant and hateful and on behalf of the vast majority of the good people of Rockland, I condemn it in no uncertain terms.”
James, who is ramping up for her 2022 gubernatorial run, also chimed in, saying that “the remarks made against our Jewish neighbors at a Rockland County town meeting tonight are appalling and unacceptable.
“We will not tolerate any form of antisemitic bigotry in any corner of our communities, period.”
Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips said that the local police department will be meeting with the District Attorney on Friday, Nov. 12 to assess the situation.
"The Town of Haverstraw has always been a true melting pot of multiple cultures. We have never tolerated hate speech, nor will we,” he said. “The Chief of Police will be meeting with the DA tomorrow to review the video and see if the gentlemen broke any laws.
“If no laws were broken we are determined to keep him away from any future meetings based on his hate speech.”
State Sen. James Skoufis, who represents the 39th District in Orange, Ulster, and Rockland counties, said that “the violently anti-Semitic comments made at a Town fo Haverstraw board meeting were disgusting, shameful, and have no place in our community. Period.”
In the neighboring Ramapo, Town Supervisor Michael Specht said that the “heinous and hateful attack on the Jewish community” is “a painful reminder that antisemitism is regrettably alive and well.”
“Hearing a member of the public speak at a meeting hosted a local governmental body and describe how he would ‘back over them again’ if he ran over Jews walking in the street, is a dangerous and despicable manifestation of antisemitism that must be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” Specht said. “These abhorrent comments are a heinous and hateful attack on the Jewish community and a painful reminder that antisemitism is regrettably alive and well.”
“As an elected official and as a Jew, I took umbrage at the antisemitic remarks that were made, and I will not remain silent while bigotry rears its ugly head,” Specht added. “We must push back against the hate by denouncing it and by promoting greater tolerance of one another.”
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