Orthodox Jews rallied outside a journalist’s home in New York last night after a Jewish anti-lockdown leader was arrested over an attack on the reporter.
Supporters of Heshy Tischler chanted ‘No Heshy, No Peace’ as they gathered outside the home of Jacob Kornbluh, a Jewish Insider reporter who was allegedly chased, assaulted and screamed at by a crowd incited by Tischler last week.
Some of last night’s protesters danced in the street while at least one waved a Trump flag and another demanded to ‘defund de Blasio’, with few of them wearing masks or social distancing.
One group of people surrounded the entrance to Kornbluh’s apartment building, but were kept at bay by NYC cops.
It is the latest flashpoint in a row over lockdown rules between Orthodox Jews and city authorities after New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced he was partially shutting down the Borough Park neighborhood to stem a second wave of Covid-19.
Five synagogues have been fined $15,000 for violating coronavirus restrictions, while Tischler was arrested over the attack at a protest in Brooklyn last Wednesday.
A crowd of Orthodox Jewish protesters gathered outside the apartment of Jacob Kornbluh, the journalist allegedly chased an attacked by a mob incited by Heshy Tischler
At least one person waved a flag backing President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign
Masked police officers at the scene where hundreds of Hasidic men gathered on Sunday night
Protesters in the street last night where people chanted ‘No Heshy, No Peace’ in support of the arrested anti-lockdown leader
Protests on Sunday night where at least one person demanded to ‘defund de Blasio’ amid a row between city authorities and Orthodox Jewish communities over coronavirus rules
‘They tricked me,’ Heshy Tischler (left) is heard complaining to cops on Sunday. ‘They’re telling everybody that I was supposed to be arrested tomorrow.’ He was charged with inciting to riot and unlawful imprisonment over the attack of journalist Jacob Kornbluh (pictured right)
‘You are moyser (snitch). Everybody scream ‘Moyser!” Tischler yelled at Kornbluh on Wednesday on Borough Park, Brooklyn
Tischler filmed the moment he was taken into custody, apparently one day before he was due to turn himself in on Monday.
‘I called, I even spoke to the chief. They tricked me,’ he is heard complaining to cops on Sunday. ‘They’re telling everybody that I was supposed to be arrested tomorrow.’
Last night a tweet from Tischler’s account purported to give an ‘urgent message from Heshy’, claiming cops were ‘denying my rights to see a judge tonight’.
A second message read: ‘Update from Heshy: Keeping me here for the night and delayed my processing of the paperwork by the mayor and DA. Political stunt. Will not stop fighting for you.’
On Friday, Tischler shared a clip on Twitter explaining that Pastor Mcall & Jeffry Davis would be taking him into the 66th Precinct on Monday.
The same day NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio – who Tischler’s Next News Network has referred to as Adolf De Blasio – said they were close to making an arrest. Kornbluh claimed he was labelled a ‘Nazi’ and ‘Hitler’ when he was attacked Wednesday.
De Blasio last week praised Kornbluh as a ‘very respected reporter’ and said the alleged attack was ‘disgusting to watch, troubling to watch’.
It took place after Tischler was given a hero’s welcome as he arrived at the protest night and spoke to the press about how Kornbluh and another Jewish journalist, Berish Getz, were liars.
‘You are moyser (snitch). Everybody scream ‘Moyser!” Tischler yelled at Kornbluh.
Earlier in the day, he had taken to Twitter to hold up a picture of Kornbluh and say: ‘You know where rats belong. Jacob Kornbluh is a rat.’
This was before Kornbluh was attacked but after an assault on Getz, 34, during protests the previous night.
On Tuesday, a crowd hurled bottles and rocks at Getz as he filmed video from a lamppost. He wound up needing to be carried out on a stretcher.
Tischler, who ran for city council in 2017 but came last in his district, has organized some of the recent protests against lockdown rules.
Jacob Kornbluh (hooded left) is chased away and accused of being a snitch as Orthodox Jewish people gather in Borough Park. Right, people burn their masks at the protest
The NYC Council Speaker has condemned the treatment of Kornbluh at the protest last week
Kornbluh said on Twitter that he’d seek charges against anyone who hit him during the attack
On Friday, Tischler shared a clip on Twitter explaining that Pastor Mcall & Jeffry Davis would be taking him into the 66th Precinct on Monday
Lockdowns have turned political with right-wing figures stoking the demonstrations and Orthodox Jews claiming they are being targeted by the Democratic governor for their support of President Donald Trump.
However Borough Park is part of a large area of Brooklyn declared a ‘red zone’ by Cuomo, and backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, after the rate of positive cases soared above the three percent threshold.
Citywide on Thursday, the rate of positive tests was 1.16 percent but in a Borough Park zip code 8.7 percent of tests came back positive, according to government statistics.
In the 20 red zone neighborhoods the positivity rate was 5.7 per cent and houses of worship are limited to a capacity of 25 per cent. In orange zones it’s limited to 33 per cent and yellow zones 50 per cent.
Many of the neighborhoods recording high rates include large Orthodox Jewish communities, where residents recently celebrated the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays.
Last week Tischler addressed protesters and called for flags emblazoned with ‘Cuomo Hates Jews’ and ‘Cuomo Killed Thousands,’ a reference to the approximately 33,000 people in New York state who died from Covid-19.
Borough Park is the worst effected neigtborhood in New York City at the moment
A New York federal judge ruled that Cuomo’s partial lockdown was lawful, dismissing a claim from Orthodox Jewish organizations that it violated the free exercise of their religion.
‘Covid crosses racial, religious and economic lines,’ said Judge Kiyo A Matsumoto.
The governor’s legal filing argued that ‘a mass gathering is not less dangerous simply because it is religious in nature’.
‘The right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community.. to communicable disease,’ it added.
Cuomo’s measures also received backing from the liberal New York Jewish Agenda network which released a statement signed by 450 rabbis supporting the ‘data-driven, geographically based approach.’
About 20 neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland County and Orange County have been slapped with intensified restrictions as the coronavirus positivity rate soars.
It means synagogues must have no more than 10 people gathered.
Congregants of the Bobov 45 say its COVID-positive rabbi held a large gathering of 300. Police were not allowed to shut down the gathering but could only issue the fine.
Schools and non-essential businesses in the area must remain closed.
Cuomo said Saturday that 826 people were hospitalized with the virus in New York, the highest number since July 15. Eight people died from COVID-19 on Friday.