New York governor may ban masks on subway in response to antisemitic threats

James Liddell
·3-min read
Masks were required on the New York subway system during the Covid crisis (Reuters)
Masks were required on the New York subway system during the Covid crisis (Reuters)

New York governor Kathy Hochul is exploring whether to ban facemasks on the subway system following a slew of antisemitic threats from keffiyeh-wearing protesters.

Hochul, 65, said that she began discussing the potential mask crackdown with New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, 63, and other state lawmakers on Thursday at the state Capitol. The bill is intended inhibit those committing antisemitic acts from shielding their identities.

Exemptions could be made forhealth and religious reasons, while Halloween and other cultural celebrations could be taken into account.

It would mark a dramatic shift from when masks were enforced in April 2020 in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, as New York City ground to a halt.

Face coverings were made mandatory for riders until September 2022, when the 28-month long mandate came to an end. Many commuters, however, continue to be concerned about the spread of Covid-19 and air pollution and continue to wear masks in the often cramped conditions on the subway.

Kathy Hochul floated a mask ban on the New York City subway on Thursday (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Kathy Hochul floated a mask ban on the New York City subway on Thursday (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Democrat made it clear she wants to implement mask restrictions in some form, which she believes would help deter crime on public transit.

The lawmaker has already sent a fleet of 750 National Guardsmen and an additional 250 state police underground this year in an attempt to quash the “brazen heinous attacks” on the subway, she said in a press conference in March

Those conflated efforts appear to have contributed to crime on the subway falling month-on-month by nearly 11 per cent in May to “below pre-pandemic levels”, according to the New York Police Departments latest statistics.

Hochul’s announcement comes after “a group donning masks took over a subway car, scaring riders and chanting things about Hitler and wiping out Jews,” she said at a news conference on Monday evening.

A swathe of anti-Israel protestors – sporting keffiyehs – called on “Zionists” to put their hands up and identify themselves on the subway, and remarked “Okay, no Zionists, we’re good,” in a video going viral on social media.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams compared volatile anti-israel protestors to the Ku Klux Klan (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams compared volatile anti-israel protestors to the Ku Klux Klan (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Another video circulating online showed a man, who had not concealed his face, shouting: “I wish Hitler was still here. He would’ve wiped all you out.”

The group had been said to be protesting above ground at Union Square minutes prior, following a pro-Palestine rally in the park that day.

“We will not tolerate individuals using masks to evade responsibility for criminal or threatening behavior,” Hochul said.

“My team is working on a solution, but on a subway, people should not be able to hide behind a mask to commit crimes,” she added.

Adams also called out protesters covering their faces, drawing comparisons to the Ku Klux Klan and branding them as cowards.

“Dr. King did not hide his face when he marched and for the things he thought were wrong in the country,” he said on 77 WABC’s Cats & Cosby radio show on Wednesday.

“Those civil rights leaders did not hide their faces. They stood up. In contrast to that, the Klan hid their faces.”

The Independent has reached out to the New York City mayor’s office for further information regarding Adams’ support for the bill.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Brooklyn preacher who boasted of ties to NYC mayor gets 9 years in prison for multiyear fraud

    A flashy Brooklyn preacher who has played up connections to New York City’s mayor was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for multiple frauds. Lamor Miller-Whitehead, 45, of Paramus, New Jersey, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Lorna G. Schofield, who said she didn’t see meaningful remorse from the Rolls Royce-driving bishop convicted of fleecing one parishioner out of $90,000 in retirement savings, among other scams. In a rambling statement, Miller-Whitehead claimed he was “very remorseful” but boasted of his good deeds for his community and expressed regrets about his trial, prompting the judge to interrupt him with a reminder that sentencing isn’t a time to relitigate the case.

  • Brooklyn’s Bling Bishop Ordered to Take His Flamboyance to Prison

    Lamor Whitehead, the flashy Brooklyn pastor best known for rocking Gucci suits and being robbed of his expensive jewelry on a church livestream, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for swindling a parishioner and extorting a businessman to fund his flamboyant lifestyle.It’s the second time Whitehead, whom New York Mayor Eric Adams once called a “mentor, brother, and friend,” will do prison time. He did six years for identity theft in 2017 and credited his time in prison for bringing

  • CNN Data Reporter 'Speechless' By New Donald Trump-Joe Biden Poll: 'Holy Cow, Folks!'

    Harry Enten said it could point to "a historic moment" in American politics.

  • The British Army trains in Kenya. Many women say soldiers raped them and abandoned children they fathered

    Seventeen-year-old Marian Pannalossy cuts a striking figure wherever she goes in Archer’s Post, a small town 200 miles north of Nairobi. She lives alone and is light-skinned in a place where mixed-race people are a rarity and therefore ostracized.

  • Bid to close Traveller site where 'guns have been hidden in toilet blocks'

    'We have now reached a point where it is no longer possible to safely maintain and run this site'

  • China is almost ready for its war with the West

    While Russian forces continued their thrust towards Kharkiv over the weekend, world leaders descended on the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock in attempts to work out what a peace deal should look like. Vladimir Putin, predictably, had no interest in attending, but the absence of another world leader was more significant. Even as the US gears up to pivot its military attention to the Indo-Pacific to confront an increasingly assertive China, Xi Jinping chose not to attend.

  • Basildon dad left with 'serious concussion' as kickabout turns into 'horrific scenes'

    The victim, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Echo the friendly kickabout while on holiday in Hopton, near Great Yarmouth, turned into “horrific scenes”

  • Steve Bannon won’t be spending his prison term in a ‘Club Fed’ as he had hoped, sources say

    When former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon goes to prison, he won’t be serving time at what’s known as a “Club Fed,” the most comfortable type of facility in the federal system, as he had wanted, according to people familiar with the arrangements.

  • Britain’s richest family spent more on pet dog than on servants, Swiss court hears

    Britain’s richest family spent more money on their pet dog than they did on one of their servants, a Swiss court has heard.

  • Farage claims Reform UK has been ‘stitched up’ over candidate vetting

    Nigel Farage said Reform had paid ‘a large sum of money’ to a firm to scrutinise its candidates but has been let down.

  • Farage is right: Wales is an utter disaster

    Adam Smith’s dictum – that there is a great deal of ruin in a nation – is being tested to the limit in 21st century Wales. After 25 years of Labour control, it lags behind the rest of the UK on a range of metrics. Nigel Farage is wise to launch his “contract” with the people in Merthyr Tydfil, if his aim is to warn the British public just how much they might suffer under Keir Starmer.

  • Russian troops surrender to an elite brigade as the Kharkiv front holds, Ukraine says

    In a video released by Ukraine's 3rd Assault Brigade, Russian troops appear to be surrendering in Vovchansk.

  • Man accused of raping his friend after 'getting drunk together'

    A rape trial has started at Oxford Crown Court where a man is accused of assaulting his friend after drinking alone together in Chipping Norton.

  • ‘Alternative Facts’ Strike Again: Kellyanne Conway’s Brazen New Claim Exposed

    The Donald Trump ally appeared to be way off with her latest defense of the former president.

  • One-Two Punch From the Skies Is a Massive Blow to Putin

    Ukraine’s military has spent the last two years chronically short of planes. Its prewar stocks were already small in number and mostly dated from the Soviet era. When NATO and other countries sent help, they focused on either sending the same older models or keeping existing aircraft in the air through maintenance and spare parts. Russia, meanwhile, has a larger and often more advanced air force.However, new planes are on the way to help Ukraine. For nearly a year, countries like the Netherlands

  • Man's trip to the chippy ends with him in jail for decades

    ‘You have contributed to the degradation and human misery that drugs cause to those who take them’

  • Putin sacks four deputy defence ministers and appoints relative

    Vladimir Putin has sacked four deputy defence ministers and appointed one of his relatives to the role as he carries out a sweeping purge of officials in charge during the botched invasion of Ukraine.

  • Britain is already at war, and nobody wants to admit it

    There are fewer than three weeks to go until polling day and, amid all the desperate campaigning and counter-campaigning, there is a dog that hasn’t barked – even though it is perhaps the most vital of all for our long-term survival.

  • The Right should fear Rachel Reeves more than Keir Starmer

    In one of the most famous psychological experiments of the past 30 years, Harvard-educated researchers Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons asked a group of young people, three in black T-shirts, three in white, to pass a basketball around a confined space.

  • Fuming locals hit with £10k bill after breaking bizarre fence rule

    Residents living by a picturesque marina have been ordered to pay £10,000 for a new fence - to stop them helping boat users with their shopping. People living in Albion Mill in Worcester have been banned from passing bags over the existing railings. To avoid a 20-minute walk carrying heavy bags, boat owners leave their shopping at metal railings on the opposite side of the pontoon where their boats are moored. They then walk around the apartments to access Diglis Marina and have their bags passed over the railings by kind-hearted Albion Mill residents. Apartment managers now plan to erect a 2m (6.5ft) high 35m (114ft) long fence to block off the pontoon after two people complained about boat owners trespassing. They say the current practice means boat owners access a private car park and say some people have been climbing over the metal railings. But furious residents claim they are being punished for helping boat owners.