On a visit to Williamsburg on Sunday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin slammed New York City and the state for its lackadaisical approach to dealing with rising antisemitic crime, and staunchly defended yeshivas in the wake of the Board of Regents’ vote on substantial equivalency standards.

On antisemitic attacks Zeldin said: “This isn’t happening once a month or even once a week. We’re getting tired of seeing this day after day after day. It’s important for all of us to have religious freedom protected, for us to be able to walked these streets, to ride a subway, without fear of being attacked.”

“It’s not just on our streets,” he continued, “but also in our schools where we are being targeted with antisemitism and raw, violent hate. The State Education Dept. was as wrong as it gets… with the vote by the Board of Regents with the vote on substantial equivalency targeting yeshivas that I have been vocally opposed to.”

“I’m here standing today against that push, and I will remain opposed to it in the future. We all need to stand up for your yeshiva education,” he continued. “The story that is not being told is that inside of yeshivas you have students who are being taught values – values of right and wrong, values of leading a good life and being law abiding and having a family and contributing positively and staying out of trouble. That story isn’t being written.”

Zeldin also touched on his own life story, and the experience of his mother, great-grandfather, and his own growing up.

“My mother was a 4th grade yeshiva teacher right here in Brooklyn,” Zeldin said.” Across generations, my great-grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi right here in Brooklyn. For me, I went through all of grade school, college, law school and 4 years of active duty and I was never once targeted with antisemitism. I couldn’t even tell a story of how other people I knew were targeted. But now, young boys here in Brooklyn can tell you story after story after story of antisemitism on these streets.”

Talking separately to Orthodox Jews on the streets of Williamsburg, Zeldin insisted that steps must be taken to ensure that “people who commit antisemitic attacks are being held accountable.”

“We have people who are getting released automatically due to cashless bail or lax DAs or lax judges. We need to make sure there are consequences. If you harm somebody else, if you assault another person… because they are Jewish, we have to have zero tolerance,” he said. “We need to identify, confront, and crush antisemitism in every form whenever we see it. There must be no tolerance for it on our streets, no tolerance for it inside our schools, and no tolerance for it inside our government.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)