Escalating tension between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Jewish leaders in the state have now resulted in a lawsuit being filed by three rabbis who are alleging Cuomo's recent COVID-19 restrictions are illegally targeting Jewish communities. In the lawsuit, the rabbis call the governor's actions "blatantly anti-Semitic."
The suit comes after Cuomo's administration issued significant coronavirus restrictions on schools, businesses, and places of worship in 20 specific virus "hotspots." Cuomo specified that the issue was primarily the problem of "ultra-Orthodox" Jews, and made the order right before Jewish holiday celebrations.
Rabbis Moshe Rosner, Samuel Teitelbaum, and Chaim Leibish filed a lawsuit arguing that Cuomo's actions "specifically singles out" orthodox Jews and comes as just the latest example of his "streak of anti-Semitic discrimination."
"[The order is] "blatantly anti-Semitic, creating religious-observance based color-coded 'hot-spot' zones directed towards particular Jewish communities," the complaint says.