Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn) blasted Puerto Rico’s largest-circulation newspaper for keeping on its website a column that blamed “the Jew” for what it characterized as America’s failure to deliver sufficient resources to aid in the recovery effort after Hurricane Maria.
El Nuevo Día columnist Wilda Rodríguez wrote a piece last week titled “What Does ‘The Jew’ Want From the Colony?” According to Rodríguez, it is “Wall Street types,” not politicians, who dictate U.S. policy.
And who are the Wall Street power brokers, according to Rodríguez?
“In the end, Congress will do what ‘the Jew’ wants, as the vulgar prototype of true power is called,” she wrote.
Cymbrowitz, who led a month-long local Puerto Rico relief drive in October with Rabbi Mendel Zarchi of Chabad of Puerto Rico and traveled to the island to participate in the recovery effort, slammed the column as “blatant anti-Semitism and indicative of a mindset that conveniently evokes old, offensive stereotypes whenever an unexplained crisis occurs.”
The Anti-Defamation League issued a strong letter protesting Rodríguez’s column.
While El Nuevo Día and the columnist have both issued apologies, Cymbrowitz feels the article should be removed from the paper’s website.
Meanwhile, much of Puerto Rico remains devastated and an estimated 45 percent of the population is still without electricity.
“We need to remain focused on all the people who desperately need our help,” Cymbrowitz said.