Andrew Cuomo condemns Times Square attack on ‘visibly Jewish’ New Yorkers

Andrew Cuomo condemns Times Square attack on ‘visibly Jewish’ New Yorkers
Andrew Cuomo, paws up.

As a New York Jew who doesn’t look particularly Jewish, I’m not sure how to react to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s response to the assault on Thursday on what he characterized as a “visibly Jewish” New Yorker:

The man, 26, was attacked in Times Square, where dueling protests were being waged by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

Does the governor’s reaction suggest his concern is limited to “visibly Jewish” residents only, in which case am I on my own if I get jumped? And what makes a person “visibly Jewish” anyway? According to police officials interviewed by CBS News, the victim was wearing a yarmulke, or skull cap. So was that the “tell”? If so, how does one distinguish between “visible” Jews and “visible” Muslims, who also wear skullcaps, called kufis? (RELATED: Palestinians go on strike amid airstrikes, rocket fire)

And when did Cuomo become such a friend to Jews in his state? In 2020, Newsweek — hardly a right-leaning outlet —  blasted Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio for settling on the Jews as their “COVID-19 ‘super spreader’ scapegoat of choice”:

In a Monday press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo did not merely single out New Rochelle, in Westchester County, as the first outbreak hotspot — he emphasized, for good measure, the “Orthodox Jewish” identity of the culprit. “We know religious gatherings have been a problem … for weeks,” he continued, belying any semblance of neutrality as to which particular community he had in mind when TV producers flashed images of black hat-clad Haredi Jews across the screen. In Kafkaesque fashion, as Jewish Insider’s Jacob Kornbluh pointed out, one of the photos appeared to be from 2006.

Cuomo goes through the motion of feigning outrage whenever an act of anti-Semitism rears its ugly head. In 2020 he roundly condemned the anti-Semitic graffiti that had defaced a building at Hofstra University on Long Island. “I am appalled and disgusted to learn of these heinous acts of hate,” he offered in a statement, adding, “the Jewish community is part of the New York family, and our state has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.” The language is distressingly similar to that in his statement on the Times Square attack. Could it be he’s just cutting and pasting from his pre-fab “outrage file?”

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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