The Rockland County Republican Party removed a video warning of a Hasidic Jewish “takeover” from its Facebook page Thursday after it was widely criticized as anti-Semitic, NBC New York reports. The video, posted on Wednesday, warns that a “storm is brewing” and shows news clips about local disputes over building code enforcement and development involving the Orthodox Jewish population. It then warns Rockland County residents that “our families” and “our way of life” are at stake. “If they win, we lose,” the video said.
According to The New York Times, Gov. Andrew Cuomo denounced the video as the “very definition of discrimination and anti-Semitism.” Nick Langworthy, the chairman of the New York State Republican Party, called the video “an ill-conceived, bad mistake” that was the “antithesis” of what the GOP believed. After the video was taken down, Rockland County Republican Party chairman Lawrence Garvey said the “overdevelopment, corruption” and issues in education happening in the county were “unconscionable.”
