NYC Councilman Says Media, Politicians Are ‘Festering Hate Against My Community’

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Aaron Bandler

January 8, 2020

Councilman Kalman Yeger

New York City Councilman Kalman Yeger blamed the media and politicians for emboldening the rise of anti-Semitism in the city in a Jan. 8 speech before the city council.

Yeger said that the media and politicians are perpetuating “an ‘us vs. them’ message against Orthodox Jews. You did this. When you deliberately paint a portrait of Orthodox Jews as backward members of society, who don’t vote how you like, don’t do what you want, don’t educate our children how you wish, you did this.”

He added that some attended the Jan. 5 “No Hate, No Fear” march “spend the other 364 days of the year festering hate against my community.”

Yeger went onto criticize the notion that the problem at hand was tolerance.

“The notion that a ‘lack of tolerance’ is at issue, as if Orthodox Jews are so heinous that our presence in society is something to be tolerated, is grotesque,” Yeger said. “We have the right to live in our city like anyone else. We have the right to go about our day without being assaulted. We’re not doing this to anyone. You’re doing this to us.”

The city councilman asked those attending the city council meeting if they had ever witnessed a Jewish student assault someone on a street in New York City. “Why is that never discussed, how we raise our children to be honorable, intellectual, decent members of society, how we are kind to one another?” Yeger said.

Yeger didn’t name any specific names, but he urged those who have promulgated divisive rhetoric against Jews to show solidarity with the Jewish community for 365 days a year, not just one day at a march.

“Leave us alone and let us be part of this city,” Yeger concluded.

Yeger, who as served on the city council since 2017, was removed from the City Council’s Immigration Committee on April 1 after tweeting, “Palestine does not exist” on March 27.