Cruz suggests DOJ investigate de Blasio for tweets about Jews
De Blasio under fire for message to Jewish community after NYC funeral gathering
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is receiving backlash for his response to a large Jewish Orthodox funeral in Brooklyn; reaction and analysis on ‘Outnumbered.’
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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called out New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Twitter Tuesday after the Democrat posted a message about Jews in his city supposedly violating social distancing policies.
De Blasio was blasted just weeks ago for tweeting about the city’s entire Jewish community after an incident involving members of one Hasidic sect. Cruz suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate de Blasio for targeting a religious population.
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«The next time NYC’s mayor sends out a gleeful tweet about sending cops after Jews, the DOJ should investigate to make sure he’s not violating constitutionally guaranteed religious liberties,» Cruz tweeted. «Actually, they should have done it after the last one.»
Cruz retweeted de Blasio’s tweet from Tuesday morning, in which he announced that a Yeshiva — an orthodox Jewish school — was shut down for having classes with dozens of children, and that the city is «issuing a Cease and Desist Order.» The senator also appeared to reference de Blasio’s tweet from three weeks earlier when he gave a «message to the Jewish community» after an excessively large gathering at a funeral in Brooklyn. That tweet said «the time for warnings has passed» and that he future violators could face with summons or arrest.
In response to this, de Blasio’s press secretary Freddie Goldstein told Fox News that the mayor «has said that enforcement is a last resort, but we will not stand idly by» when it comes to gatherings that endanger New Yorkers.
«That’s what he’s focused on, not Ted Cruz’s sudden interest in ‘New York Values,'» Goldstein said, referencing a comment Cruz made during his 2016 presidential campaign that at the time sparked accusations of anti-Semitic undertones.
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De Blasio faced heavy backlash for that tweet. While critics did not appear to dispute whether the funeral was a violation of social distancing rules — which call for staying at least six feet apart and limit large gatherings — they questioned de Blasio’s language toward the city’s Jewish population over the incident, months after a rash of anti-Semitic attacks in the New York metropolitan area. Some also asserted that de Blasio would not speak the same way about other religious or cultural populations.
After de Blasio’s tweet against the Jewish funeral, which took place in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, a couple was arrested for allegedly attacking Hasidic men in that same area. According to the New York Post, police said the pair blamed the Jews for getting people sick.
