PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — “Jewish lives matter.” Except when they are reporters and photographers who “snitch” on their brethren.
New Covid-19 limits in Orthodox Jewish communities has produced several serious concerns, but the most dreadful outcome was a series of mob attacks on journalists who covered protests in the sprawling Borough Park section of Brooklyn, as reported by a number of media sources.
A videographer was beaten unconscious by Orthodox Jews and a freelance photographer was pummeled by a similar mob Tuesday night. On Wednesday night, a reporter for the Jewish Insider website was similarly beaten. Jacob Kornbluh, the JI reporter, said he will press charges and family members of the unconscious videographer, Berish Getz, complained that police made no arrests.
In Kornbluh’s case, City Council candidate Heschy Tishler pointed the reporter out to the crowd and can be heard in a video saying “You are a pig” before starting a chant of “moser,” Yiddish for “snitch.” Kornbluh said Tischler “ordered the crowd to chase me down the street,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.
Bruce Schaff, the freelance photographer, told The New York Post that protesters knocked him to the ground and damaged his camera as he heard people yell “You’re an anti-Semite” and “Jewish lives matter.”
The Jewish lives of Schaff, Kornbluh and Getz were exceptions. Yes, all three are Jewish. In fact, Kornbluh and Getz are Hasidic Jews.
How are the acts of these assailants any different from those of some Black Lives Matter members? They are no better than the BLM marchers who rampaged through the predominantly Jewish Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles and vandalized synagogues as well as businesses.
Let’s hope that all three victims press charges. Police should investigate and prosecute all suspects, including Tishler. If Kornbluh’s story is true, Tischler is as guilty as his followers. He cannot get away with claiming free speech.
Directing the crowd to chase Kornbluh is comparable to yelling fire in a crowded theater. It is akin to a mob boss ordering a hit.
There is no excuse for what they did, even if Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is wrong for ordering the closure of schools and nonessential businesses in sections of Queens, Brooklyn and Rockland and Orange counties where the level of Covid-19 infections rose sharply.
Cuomo also ordered on Tuesday that for the next two weeks houses of worship in these communities can allow no more than 10 people to gather together at a time.
Most high positivity rates of 3 to 8 percent posted in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, according to The New York Times. The Town of Palm Tree in Orange County, a Satmar Hasidic enclave, posted an 18 percent positivity rate during the past week.
The pandemic has killed 20,000 people in New York City, and Orthodox Jewish communities have been particularly vulnerable because Jews there have been reluctant to adopt public health practices and have been subject to misinformation, including from President Trump, the Times reports. Authorities fear that increased infections in the Orthodox neighborhoods could jumpstart a second wave of the coronavirus and thwart the city’s economic recovery.
Jewish leaders in these communities need to take steps to compensate for the assaults. They should apologize, pay the victims’ medical bills and replace any damaged equipment, disown Tishler as a political candidate and attempt to persuade their neighbors to welcome the journalists back into their communities.
Jewish ethics matter, too.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.