The Jewish community in Brooklyn was outraged when they learned that an FDNY Firefighter with a history of being an open anti-semite and racist had been assigned to a Boro Park fire station. Thankfully, that has changed.
New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) thanked New York City and the FNDY for re-assigning the racist firefighter who had been assigned to a firehouse in his district.
Joseph M. Cassano, 28, who once tweeted “I like Jews about as much as Hitler” while working as an EMT, also wrote: “Getting sick of picking up all these Obama lovers and taking them to the hospital because their medicare pays for an ambulance and not a cab.” On Martin Luther King Day in 2013 he tweeted, “MLK could go kick rocks for all I care, but thanks for the time and a half today.”
His recent assignment to Engine 247 on 60th Street in Borough Park, the heart of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn, had the Assemblyman and his community both angry and frightened.
Hikind had planned a protest at the Firehouse for this Thursday along with a number of Holocaust survivors but cancelled those plans when notified of the reassignment.
Joseph M. Cassano, 28, the son of former FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, graduated from the Fire Academy last week and was assigned to Engine 247 on 60th Street. The younger Cassano had resigned his job as an FDNY emergency medical technician in 2013 after Tweeting racist and hateful comments about Blacks and Jews.
“Assigning this man to Borough Park, where you have an incredible number of Holocaust survivors, is an insult to our community,” Hikind had said. “I’m not sure he should be anywhere, but certainly not here with the people he said he hates.”
“The City and the FDNY did the right thing,” said Hikind. “People who hate Jews should not be trusted to save them from fires. Good luck to the community where he’s re-assigned.”
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14 Responses
here hikind goes again , no reason to make a shtink for comments ,you can make protests for actions headlines like these doesnt help the cause , it may not be wise for him to be in bp although most citizens dont really interact with the fdny directly and who would ever know ” dov good intentions wrong tactic
Sorry Dov I think you making a mountain out of a mole hole. No matter where he ends up at some point he will be interacting with jews in a city like new York. Perhaps sensitivity training or the like would have been better.
No one asked him if and if so how or why he regretted his attitude
Meir G
Is your hate that strong that u can’t say he ever does anything right for his district? Does it make u feel good to knock your people whatever they do? שנאת חינם hurts all of us
I am proud of Hikind.
Mr Hikind always goes out of his way for his fellow Jews! He should be applauded!! I give him a standing ovation !! Time and time again he has proven himself!!
It’s shocking that an openly racist and Anti-Semitic dog like this can actually remain an employee of NYC in 2018.
All you Hikind haters- just because you got new politicians and forgot all the good he did for your communities, that doesn’t mean all he does is bad! Kefuyai Tova!
Good PR for the elected official.
For those with the negative comments-
Right or wrong, Hikind is doing his job. I’m sure people from the community reached out to him about this, and as an assemblyman it’s his job to respond. Perhaps he wouldn’t have said anything if not for those who contacted him. “Don’t kill the Messenger.”
Let’s just be happy and appreciative that Hikind is responding to the requests and needs of the community.
macher: i agreed dov is a very good person , what bothers me is that he gets to embarress the community by doing this kind of ” bully shtick” i=even if his intentions are good; as a talmid of rav pam , i believe that rav pam would never condone this kind of nitpicking some things you leave for the eibishter… i challenge you to ask reb dovid feinstien shlita what would be his response if this fire fighter was transferred to the lower east side
i suggest that yiddin stop by the fire house and say that although his comments are wrong , we have nothing to do with his transfer what do you think
Seriously,people?? A person spewing such racist comments does not belong in the FDNY! Good job,Dov!
Yes most people in boro park dont interact with firefighters daily but if god forbid we need them is this the man u expect to rescue ur family??
Meir G
How come I don’t see Reb Dovid F. מחאה? BH Hikind responds to his community’s concerns. If he can’t stop this racist and anti semite join the NYFD at least he isn’t in our face. Hikind did what was necessary and it worked. My question is WHERE were your other heimisha reresentatives?
Meir G:
I give you a brocho that you should NEVER EVER NEED any of Hikind’s help.
This way you it will save you from trying to find a hole to hide from shame…