{"id":679626,"date":"2026-03-25T01:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T01:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/679626\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T01:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T01:35:14","slug":"my-challenge-to-the-nyc-council-choose-faith-over-fear-and-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/679626\/","title":{"rendered":"My challenge to the NYC Council \u2014choose faith over fear and hate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, believed he had outlived a time in which anyone would have to fear entering or leaving their house of worship.<\/p>\n

Four months ago, that belief evaporated in an instant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In November, protesters outside Park East Synagogue, Rabbi Schneier\u2019s own Manhattan congregation,\u00a0literally\u00a0crossed a line.<\/p>\n

Instead of remaining behind a designated barricade and protesting peacefully, they headed directly for the synagogue\u2019s entrance, creating a threatening and unsafe environment for congregants.<\/p>\n

The city acknowledged<\/a> that the situation at Park East could have been handled a lot better \u2014 that the entrance was not kept clear, and that the space outside was \u201cchaotic\u201d and difficult for congregants to enter and exit.<\/p>\n

Because this was more\u00a0than an innocent protest: It was intimidation and harassment<\/a> that ultimately interfered with the congregants\u2019 right to worship freely.<\/p>\n

If this can happen outside a synagogue, it can happen outside a church, a mosque, a temple or any place where people gather in faith, in learning or in community.<\/p>\n

The moment we tolerate such interference at the doors of one house of worship, we weaken the foundation of safety for all.<\/p>\n

Weeks later, a similar scene unfolded outside a yeshiva<\/a> in Kew Gardens, Queens.<\/p>\n

The result was the same: New Yorkers trying to enter their house of worship were afraid to do so because of targeted obstruction and intimidation.<\/p>\n

That should never happen in our city.<\/p>\n

And as a public official, I vowed to prevent it from happening again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As one of my first official actions as City Council speaker, I was proud to introduce new legislation<\/a> that turned that promise into meaningful policy.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the council will have the opportunity to pass this bill, putting it on a path to becoming law.<\/p>\n

While upholding the right to peacefully protest, this bill requires the NYPD to develop a plan to address and contain the risk of physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation and interference around houses of worship when a protest is imminent.<\/p>\n

That plan will determine whether a security perimeter is needed \u2014 and if so, how far the perimeter should extend from building entrances and exits.<\/p>\n

The goal of creating these security perimeters is simple: Establish protocols that ensure safe access to enter these sacred spaces, and prevent what we saw at Park East and Kew Gardens from happening anywhere else.<\/p>\n

But these measures don\u2019t just protect one single community \u2014 they protect\u00a0all\u00a0communities, regardless of the faith they practice or the place where they study.<\/p>\n

A basic covenant of our city is that everyone who lives here deserves to be safe and to feel safe.<\/p>\n

It is the City Council\u2019s official responsibility as well as our moral duty to preserve this covenant.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it\u2019s imperative that we uphold the constitutional rights of the constituents we serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a key part of these bills, we\u2019re also making sure that implementing security perimeters does not curtail free speech or free assembly.<\/p>\n

Those unalienable rights will not be touched, nor will our freedoms be weakened \u2014 whether it is the freedom to practice religion or the freedom to express what you believe.<\/p>\n

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New York has always protected the right to protest: loudly, visibly and passionately.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what our history is built on.<\/p>\n

That will not change \u2014 under this bill, the right to peacefully protest outside houses of worship will remain unfettered.<\/p>\n

But the right to protest does not include denying others\u00a0their\u00a0rights to worship as they please.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the line this legislation draws.<\/p>\n

It also brings in something we\u2019ve been missing: transparency.<\/p>\n

Right now, responses to these situations can be inconsistent and unclear.<\/p>\n

Under this bill, the NYPD will be required to publicly articulate how decisions are made: when perimeters are used, how they are sized, how long they last and how both safety and protest rights are upheld.<\/p>\n

By codifying clear expectations for the NYPD, we are moving from ambiguity to accountability, guaranteeing the protection of congregants and protesters alike.<\/p>\n

At moments like this, we have a responsibility to act in the name of protecting New Yorkers from every walk of life.<\/p>\n

As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, I carry a deep understanding of what happens when fear takes hold at the doors of our communities.<\/p>\n

I know, too, the importance of standing up for religious freedom for all \u2014 as when I supported the Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero despite intense public opposition.<\/p>\n

Antisemitism is rising at historic rates<\/a>. So is Islamophobia.<\/p>\n

So are many forms of hate \u2014 and we must step up to combat them.<\/p>\n

The City Council is proud to take immediate and impactful steps to uphold safety, freedom and transparency that should be guaranteed to everyone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what it takes to protect New Yorkers \u2014 and that\u2019s what our legislation delivers.<\/p>\n

Julie Menin is speaker of the New York City Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, believed he had outlived a time in which anyone would have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":679627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,12648,5310,29535,29536,175377,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,1269,7237,83273,188711,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-679626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-antisemitism","tag-city-council","tag-first-amendment","tag-free-speech","tag-julie-menin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-opinion","tag-protests","tag-religious-freedom","tag-synagogues","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116287250414835970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}