New York City Councilman Felder issued the following statement following Governor Hochul’s press conference announcing that $90 million will be given to secure Jewish schools and other institutions, following the scrawling of multiple swastikas in Brooklyn:

“The chutzpah of Governor Kathy Hochul showing up in Midwood just one day after she proudly celebrated the election of an outspoken and unapologetic antisemite is beyond comprehension.

“Hochul was the highest state official to endorse Mamdani, encouraging others to do the same. Hours after his election, when masked vandals covered the neighborhood in swastikas, suddenly, for the first time anyone remembers, the Governor’s on Avenue J, almost two miles away from where the swastikas were first discovered.

“Where was the Governor when Jewish New Yorkers were beaten on the streets and in the parks? Where was she every time synagogues were desecrated and yeshiva kids assaulted, when fear gripped our community day after day? Her sudden appearance now at this inappropriate time and place is not compassion, it’s opportunism and political theatre.

“Governor Hochul threw her support behind a candidate whose words and actions threaten the safety and security of the Jewish community and our entire city. She endorsed a mayor who supports Globalize the Intifada, BDS, and defunding the NYPD at a time when Jews are being hunted on the streets. Hochul helped legitimize hate.

“And then, dripping with hypocrisy, she arrived in Midwood to announce more funding to protect yeshivas from the exact hatred she enabled.

“Governor Hochul should spare us the staged concern. New Yorkers deserve a leader who stands against hate consistently. Not an actress who shows up only when it’s politically convenient and can’t even do that right.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)