David Duke Targets NYC Mayor for His Torah and Prayer Shawl

Image by Twitter/YouTube
David Duke wants President-elect Donald Trump to go after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the white supremacist wrote tweeted on November 25.
The mayor of NYC, Bill de Blasio (born Warren Wilhelm Jr.), is one disrespectful/hateful man – Sure hope Trump puts him in his place.#MAGA pic.twitter.com/HpZzWsi6AG
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) November 18, 2016
De Blasio’s given name Warren Wilhelm, Jr. He was named after his father, who committed suicide in 1979, and has said took on his mother’s maiden name to honor her. How hateful and disrespectful, Duke implies, that someone with a Germanic-sounding name would proudly carry a Torah scroll.
“There’s a lot about NYC that the KKK probably hates,” De Blasio responded in a statement from spokeswoman Jessica Ramos. “Of our many diverse communities, Mr. Duke chose our relationship with the Jewish community to single out,” she wrote in her e-mailed response. “We should take a minute to be proud of that fact. And after this minute, we go back to work.”
De Blasio has denounced Trump and Duke is one of his ardent supporters.
De Blasio, who met with Trump last week in Manhattan’s Trump Tower, has said that the city under his leadership will resist federal anti-immigration proposals and that the president-elect’s rhetoric on the campaign trail was out of step with New Yorkers’ beliefs.
“We will fight anything we see as undermining our values. And here is my promise to you as your mayor – we will use all the tools at our disposal to stand up for our people,” he told a crowd of sanitation workers gathered at Manhattan’s Cooper Union last week.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

