Wieder: Remove video comparing Rockland to Nazi Germany

NEW CITY – Rockland County Legislator Aron Wieder on Thursday expressed concern about the level of hate toward Rockland's Orthodox and Hasidic Jews on a local Facebook page, but said a video drawing parallels between that page and Nazi hate speech should be removed from YouTube.

Wieder, D-Spring Valley, the Legislature's majority leader and its only Hasidic member, spoke publicly for the first time about the video, titled "The Jew in Rockland," which provoked criticism because of its reference to Nazi Germany.

Wieder began the news conference by saying that despite rumors to the contrary, he didn't narrate the video, nor did he have anything to do with its production.

"To be candid, had I produced the video clip, I would've done it differently," Wieder said.

But he said people in Rockland "need to have a frank and honest conversation about the derogatory, hateful and anti-Semitic speech that has unfortunately metastasized recently by a few here in Rockland County, all directed towards the Orthodox Jewish community."

Wieder read some of the comments he said he found on the Facebook page "Block The Block Vote," noting that the seeds of the Holocaust were planted with "hateful and derogatory words" that went unchecked for too long. "We need to defeat hate in its infancy," he said.

As a member of the Orthodox community, Wieder said, he gets the sense that some in his community are "concerned" and "frightened" because of such comments.

Wieder, however, said most in Rockland would stand up to anti-Semitism and called the United States "the greatest Democracy" as he held a copy of the Constitution he says he carries at all times.

Speaking about the video, Wieder said he would not have used the imagery that has come under sharp criticism.

"It is sad that some of the comments by a very few people in Rockland County have prompted folks in the Orthodox community to produce such a video," Wieder said.

Richard Sena of Bardonia, who was at the press conference at the Allison-Parris county office building, repeatedly asked Wieder whether he would denounce the video.

"As an elected public official, why aren't you denouncing 'The Jew in Rockland' YouTube video? Can you denounce it right now?" asked Sena, whose in-laws were Holocaust survivors. "I'm deeply offended by the ... video. I can't tell you how angry I am about this."

When asked whether the video should be taken down, Wieder said: "I want to think that it would be a very productive move by the people who produced the video to remove it."

Wieder also said simply labeling the ongoing tension in Rockland "anti-Semitism" is shifting the focus from real issues that need to be addressed.

The video was produced by Colossal PR on behalf of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, taking particular aim at a Facebook page that advocates against the influence of the Orthodox bloc vote on Rockland politics and government. Since it was posted on YouTube on March 22, it had 23,799 views as of Thursday morning.

Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of OJPAC, said the 5-minute, 43-second video was produced to bring attention to increasing hatred against Rockland's Orthodox and Hasidic communities. The video showed harsh Facebook comments against those communities.

Gestetner on Thursday posted a message on the council's Facebook page stating that he would remove the video when all the hateful comments against Orthodox Jews were removed from the "Block The Block Vote" page.

James Foley, who started the "Block The Block Vote" page, has admitted that some remarks posted by commenters are offensive. He since updated his page to emphasize that it's a "political effort" against "bloc voting," which he believes gives certain groups "undue political influence in Rockland County politics," including in the East Ramapo school district. The district's Board of Education is dominated by Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish members who send their children to private schools.

Gestetner says the anti-Semitism on the page is not just being posted by the commenters but by Foley himself. Foley denies the accusation.

Comparing the tension in Rockland to the anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany was criticized by some community leaders, including some Jewish organizations.

Rabbis Paula Mack Drill and Craig Scheff of the Orangetown Jewish Center wrote a letter to congregants stating that "equating the organized, government-sponsored anti-Semitism of the Holocaust era to individuals' inappropriate use of social media is an alarmist and inappropriate comparison to make."

Andrea Winograd, executive director of the Holocaust Museum in Suffern, issued a statement that said the memory of the Holocaust's victims "forces us to infuse respect, tolerance and eduction back into our dialog, which is what is missing from the conversation in Rockland today."

Twitter: @LohudAkiko