Gov. Kathy Hochul is considering reviving a New York mask ban to make antisemitic protesters face consequences for their hate.
The governor told CNN late Wednesday that an explosion of recent anti-Jewish incidents in New York City — including one in which masked protesters demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands on a crowded train — were “textbook antisemitism.”
Hochul appeared to back Jewish leaders’ calls, first reported by The Post, to reinstate an anti-masking law that was repealed as the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
“It was repealed at the time, but I absolutely will go back and take a look at this and see whether it can be restored because it is frightening to people,” she said.
“You’re sitting on a subway train and someone puts on a mask like this and comes in — you don’t know if they’re going to be committing a crime, they’re going to have a gun, or whether they’re just going to be threatening or intimidating you because you are Jewish, which is exactly what happened the other day,” she said. “Absolutely unacceptable in the State of New York.”
Supporters of a mask ban contend that making protesters show their faces will help crack down on violent and hateful incidents. They argue such anti-masking laws were effectively used in the past to combat the Ku Klux Klan’s hooded menace.
Mayor Eric Adams also appeared to be on board with a mask ban.
“This is important to the mayor,” a source close to Adams told The Post Thursday. “The administration is reaching out to the parties across the city and state — elected officials in the Council, the legislature and the governor’s office — to figure out a way to get this done.”
State Assemblyman Mike Reilly (R-Staten Island) said he was glad to hear the governor may be supportive of reimplementing the state’s mask laws.
“It doesn’t make sense that we removed it,” he told The Post.
Reilly said he has heard support of the idea from Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature.
He carries one of a few bills that would reimplement the law, but his differs in that it would also create legal penalties for those who threaten others or destroy property while masked.
“I just I just hope that we move forward with this and restore this law that will actually provide a balance between freedom of speech and public safety,” he said.
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