Nassau's Special Legislative Task Force to Combat Antisemitism meets

More than a dozen speakers discussed a rise in antisemitism and the growing need to improve security in Jewish houses of worship at the first public hearing for Nassau County’s Special Legislative Task Force to Combat Antisemitism on Thursday evening in Mineola.

But it was several Jewish students at Nassau schools who appeared to make the biggest impact on task force members as they shared the challenges their peers face as teens at a time when they say antisemitism has been “normalized” among the young.

“Since the beginning of high school, antisemitism is something I have faced almost daily,” said Sofie Glassman,  a sophomore who told the task force about hearing Holocaust jokes in the cafeteria and learning about swastikas etched on bathroom stalls.

Caroline Kronenfeld, a high school senior, said that while schools teach students about the Holocaust there is little education about the casual racism Jewish students face every day in schools and on social media.

“We have to emphasize the fact that those casual comments are very severe,” Kronenfeld said.

The task force, which was established in 2021 following a series of incidents of violence and harassment targeting Jews on Long Island and in New York City, is comprised of six county legislators — three from each party — five members of the public and a representative from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office.

The task force, which is chaired by Eli Weinstock, rabbi of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, is focused on discovering the origins and extent of antisemitism in Nassau County, and establishing methods to combat the scourge, including education programs.

The panel is mandated to hold public hearings and a virtual roundtable educating youth about antisemitism. Following the completion of its hearings and a public comment period, the task force will draft a report detailing recommendations to the 19-member GOP-led Nassau County Legislature to address antisemitism.

Last year Legis. Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview), who sponsored the legislation creating the task force, called for an investigation of the Goyim Defense League, a loose network of antisemitic conspiracy theorists and internet trolls who have claimed responsibility for the dissemination of antisemitic fliers in Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Long Beach and Huntington. The hate group also operates a video platform that streams antisemitic, white supremacist, pro-Hitler, anti-Black and anti-transgender content.

At Thursday’s hearing, members of the committee spoke of how the hatred extends far beyond that group.

Avi Posnick of Stand With Us, an international organization that empowers students to fight antisemitism, shared statistics that show New York is the leading state for reports of antisemitic incidents, with 581 in 2022.

“Long Island is not immune to this,” Posnick said. “Of those incidents, 76 took place on Long Island with 42 of those in Nassau County.

Multiple speakers discussed the needs of area houses of worship to install increased security measures to protect members from the possibility of an attack, which has been paid for through state and federal grants.

Weinstock said events like Thursday’s public hearing will help the task force better understand the needs of the public to incorporate their concerns into the group’s recommendations to the county government, including law enforcement.

“Here we are one year later, hopefully a little wiser and certainly as willing, if not more so, to tackle this problem,” Weinstock said. With Robert Brodsky

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.