Jewish leaders call COVID rules 'blatantly anti-Semitic'

NEW YORK (AP) — Three Rockland County Jewish congregations are suing New York state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, saying he engaged in a “streak of anti-Semitic discrimination” with a recent crackdown on religious gatherings to reduce the state's coronavirus infection rate.

The Manhattan federal court lawsuit filed late Wednesday accused the Democrat of making negative, false, and discriminatory statements about the Jewish Orthodox community as he imposed new coronavirus measures to counter the state's rising infection rate in so-called “red zone” areas.

Cuomo's statements and actions were painful for residents in an area north of New York City where a man invaded a Hanukkah celebration in December and stabbed or slashed five people, the lawsuit said. Grafton Thomas awaits trial after pleading not guilty.

The attack occurred in Monsey — near the New Jersey state line about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of New York City — where two congregations in the new lawsuit are based.

The state said six coronavirus clusters in areas comprising 2.8% of the state's population have appeared in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as Broome, Orange and Rockland counties, necessitating the closing of schools and nonessential businesses and limits on gatherings.

The new measures announced Oct. 6 have resulted in temporarily limiting the size of religious gatherings in the COVID-19 hot spots to 25% capacity, or a maximum of 10 people.

The limits prompted several federal lawsuits, including two in Brooklyn and one in Albany.

The latest lawsuit said Cuomo's order was “blatantly anti-Semitic, creating religious-observance based color coded ‘hot-spot’ zones directed towards particular Jewish communities.”

The lawsuit said his action “not only flagrantly flies directly in the...