New City homeowners receive flyers accusing legislator of being anti-Semitic

New City homeowners say they received flyers that accuse a Rockland County legislator of being anti-Semitic.

News 12 Staff

Sep 3, 2019, 9:22 PM

Updated 1,706 days ago

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New City homeowners say they received flyers that accuse a Rockland County legislator of being anti-Semitic.
The flyers say Rockland County Legislator Laurie Santulli used Nazi language in a Facebook post that she published in June.
The homeowners found the flyers inside bags on their lawns Friday. They say some of the bags also contained rusty nails and dog feces.
"They are absolutely horrible. They are absolutely untrue. The quote they are using for me is from a larger thread that discusses infrastructure," says Santulli.
Santulli says she also received a private message on Facebook.
“It was a private message sent to me and it was basically telling me to follow my leader, and it's a picture of Hitler blowing his brains out, and I guess they want me to kill myself,” she says.

Clarkstown police are investigating both incidents, trying to find out who's behind what and whether the bags count as a crime.
David Berkman is one of more than 10 homeowners police say they know received a bag.

“To me, it's emblematic of some of the things going on in the county,” he says.

Just last week, a controversial video posted by the Rockland County Republican Committee on Facebook blamed the Hasidic community for overdevelopment and causing lawmakers as high as Gov. Andrew Cuomo to condemn it as anti-Semitic.
Also last week, a comment by County Legislator Aron Wieder about her being anti-Semitic provoked Santulli to ask the legislative body to condemn his behavior.
When News 12 met with Wieder about it last week, he cited the same Facebook post by Santulli that's quoted in the flyers.

“You know who used this type of rhetoric 80 years ago? The Nazis,” he said last week.
On Tuesday, Wieder wouldn't say whether he thinks Santulli is anti-Semitic.

“I'm very, very concerned and I condemn the flyers posted the other day. I condemn it in the strongest language,” he says.
 


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