Catholic League President Slams Deblasio For Targeting Orthodox Jews and Catholic Institutions

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his unfair targeting of orthodox Jews in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus

Donohue wrote that “Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in New York are witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections, and the response by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is to shut down all churches, synagogues and schools—private, religious, and public—in an attempt to quell the spread of the disease. The authoritarian language he invoked to justify this extraordinary measure was chilling.”

Cuomo has said that he would “deploy the police to enforce his edict. If there are too many people entering a house of worship”, he said, “the state police officer is down the block, and he will come help you.”

Donohue questioned Cuomo’s authority to make such a move and added that “his decision to blanket Catholic churches and schools—where there are no problems—is discriminatory.”

Donohue then exposed Cuomo’s double standard, as he allowed violent protests to continue without social distancing while at the same time taking a tough stance against religious institutions:

“Last June, after violent mobs went on a rampage attacking innocent people, destroying property, looting, and tying up traffic in an illegal demonstration, neither New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio nor Gov. Cuomo did anything to stop it. The police were told to stand down and both men expressed sympathy with the thugs. Obviously, social distancing was summarily ignored.

“Their duplicity did not go unnoticed. On June 26, U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction saying de Blasio and Cuomo exceeded their authority. By allowing the protests, he said, they were ‘encouraging what they knew was a flagrant disregard of the outdoor limits and social distancing rules.’ In doing so, they ‘sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment.’ Neither de Blasio nor Cuomo challenged the judge’s ruling.”

At the same time the governor has taken a crude approach to religious institutions, closing them indiscriminately. Donohue wrote that “There is no spike in coronavirus in any Catholic church or school in the Archdiocese of New York or the Diocese of Brooklyn. Why is he penalizing Catholic institutions, which are not a problem, but is allowing commercial establishments in these same neighborhoods to conduct business as usual?”

Donohue concluded that Cuomo is trying to compensate for his initial incompetence in battling the pandemic which bordered on negligence, since he sent coronavirus patients to nursing homes, leading to over 4,300 deaths.

“The man is a wreck,” Donohue concludes, and his “politicization of Covid-19 is a national disgrace.