Guest: David Rubin via Phone, Skype, or Zoom
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered the shutdown of a large Orthodox Jewish funeral in Brooklyn, New York and threatened arrests, warning “the Jewish community” that violations of social distancing guidelines would be punished. The Jewish community leadership hit back hard against DeBlasio’s not-so-veiled collective threats against all Jews at a time of rising anti-Semitism in his city.
Multiple questions come to mind: Who was right? Who were the participants at the funeral? Was DeBlasio expressing justified anger or prejudice against an entire community?
Joining us in this discussion is David Rubin who grew up in Brooklyn, elected mayor of Shiloh, Israel, and is author of the book, “Trump and the Jews.”
Q&A:
- So, as a fellow mayor, who’s right, mayor De Blasio or the hundreds of Jewish-Americans who were at the funeral? In order to understand the answer to that question, we have to know the background. This was a funeral attended by a rather extreme sect of Orthodox Jews, not by any means part of the Jewish mainstream, so for the mayor to issue a warning to the entire Jewish community is an absolute outrage that reveals his biases more than anything else. Such prejudicial actions could be likened to calling De Blasio a gangster simply because he and Al Capone both have last names than end with a vowel.
- This incident was unusual in that the mayor did not merely issue an arrest order. He physically showed up in person to disperse the funeral crowd. Sounds like it was quite important to him. What dynamics are involved there? Look, there are fairly strict social distancing guidelines in New York and for a good reason. There are lots of people dying and the rules are there to protect the public, but as the facts have come out, the situation at this funeral was apparently much more complicated than it seems on the surface.
- You have been living in Israel for almost thirty years but spent the previous thirty years in Brooklyn, so obviously you know the Big Apple. Is this simply a case of mayoral bias vs. violations of the public order? Well no, as I said it’s much more complicated. Word has come out that the NYPD was informed in advance about this funeral and were coordinating the whole process. In Israel, where we have very strict and enforceable rules right now, a funeral of this size would not be allowed, but in NYC, I guess it’s not so clear. Apparently DeBlasio’s right hand doesn’t know what his left hand is doing.
- What suggestion would you make to Mayor De Blasio going forward? If it’s legally authorized, and only if it’s legally authorized, give out fines to those who break the rules, because those individuals are endangering others, but don’t ever blame an entire religious or racial group for what a fringe element is doing. Most Orthodox Jews are very disciplined and very responsible.
- Tell us about your book, “Trump and the Jews” and where we can pick up a copy? “Trump and the Jews” examines the relationship between President Trump, Israel, and the Jewish people, with a special focus on the Left-Right divide in America and how it impacts those relationships. The best way to get the book is simply to go on Amazon.com and type in the words “Trump and the Jews”.
Bio: David Rubin, former Mayor of Shiloh Israel, is the author of the book, “Trump and the Jews” and five other books. Rubin is the founder and president of Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund, established after he and his then three-year-old son were wounded in a terror attack. He can be found at www.DavidRubinIsrael.com or at http://www.ShilohIsraelChildren.org
