NEW YORK, NY – MAY 04: New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, left to right, and FDNY Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro hand out donated meals to firefighters on International Firefighters Day on May 4, 2020 in New York City. As New York City continues its shutdown to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, firefighters and other essential workers continue to deal with the effects of the virus. (Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio apologized to Orthodox Jewish representatives in a May 4 phone call for his choice of words in an April 28 tweet regarding a large funeral gathering.
On April 28, a funeral had taken place in Brooklyn for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, who had died of COVID-19-related complications. There were as many as 2,000 people there; while many of them wore masks, social distancing measures were not observed, prompting police to intervene and issue summons.
De Blasio tweeted afterward: “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
Jewish Insider reported that de Blasio said on the May 4 call, “Obviously I used words I wish I hadn’t used, and I’ve apologized for that and I continue to apologize for that. I spoke out of a profound sense of the danger right before my eyes to the lives around me, and a frustration that it was an intolerable situation that could not be allowed to continue.”
He added that “if I had changed a few words, I assumed people would say, ‘You know, this is someone speaking about an unacceptable gathering and speaking about keeping the community safe and everyone safe.’ And that’s exactly what I intended to say.”
The New York City mayor said that he hasn’t deleted the tweet because “if you take a tweet down, that becomes its own criticism.” He did leave the door open for it to be taken down in the future.
Former New York Democratic Assemblymember Dov Hikind, who is president of the Americans Against Anti-Semitism watchdog, tweeted that he was satisfied with de Blasio’s reported remarks on the call.
“I’m pleased to see that @BilldeBlasio has issued a proper apology and fully acknowledged the damage his tweet caused. Friends don’t hold grudges,” Hikind wrote. “But we do expect to see the mayor fight hard against the anti-Semitism that’s already rearing its ugly head.”
I’m pleased to see that @BilldeBlasio has issued a proper apology and fully acknowledged the damage his tweet caused. Friends don’t hold grudges. But we do expect to see the mayor fight hard against the antisemitism that’s already rearing it’s ugly head.https://t.co/xc2aMDJ7zo
— Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) May 5, 2020
Washington Examiner Magazine Executive Editor Seth Mandel, on the other hand, was not satisfied.
“For one, he didn’t apologize, unless he put out a second ‘apology’ statement that I missed,” Mandel tweeted. “The first was not an apology, and it’s not surprising that as rotten a human as de Blasio is would lie about it and then tell the Jews to get over it.”
For one, he didn't apologize, unless he put out a second 'apology' statement that I missed. The first was not an apology, and it's not surprising that as rotten a human as de Blasio is would lie about it and then tell the Jews to get over it. https://t.co/YFqxHxANWN
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) May 5, 2020
De Blasio had said on April 29 that he wasn’t trying to offend anyone but his remarks were “tough love.” On May 1, he acknowledged to Jewish Insider that he spoke the “wrong way in terms of giving people the wrong impression.”
Since de Blasio’s tweet, police broke up a large Chasidic Jewish gathering in Brooklyn on April 30. A 17-year-old male at the funeral was taken into custody and then released with a summons.
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