NY county outlaws masks at protests in response to anti-Israel intimidation
Nassau law, with medical, religious exceptions, is backed by 12 Republicans, legislature’s 7 Democrats abstain; state’s Civil Liberties Union says law violates free speech
New York’s suburban Nassau County has passed a bill to ban the wearing of masks after an incident in the state in which anti-Israel protesters wearing masks to hide their identity threatened Zionists on the subway.
The mask ban would cover any sort of public protest, but lawmakers in the Republican-controlled county say the bill aims to prevent protesters who engage in alleged violence and antisemitism from hiding their identity and avoiding accountability. Civil rights advocates saw the step as an infringement on free speech rights.
The bill was approved late on Monday, with all 12 Republicans in the county legislature voting in favor while the seven Democrats abstained. It makes wearing a facial covering to hide identity in public a misdemeanor that can be punished with up to one year in prison and a $1,000 penalty. The bill has exemptions for medical reasons and for “religious and cultural purposes.”
“Unless someone has a medical condition or a religious imperative, people should not be allowed to cover their face in a manner that hides their identity when in public,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, said about the bill that he is expected to sign.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said the bill was an attack on free speech.
“Masks protect people who express political opinions that are unpopular. Making anonymous protest illegal chills political action and is ripe for selective enforcement,” Susan Gottehrer, the Nassau County regional director of NYCLU, said.
‘Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist:’ After protesting outside the Nova Museum, which exclusively displays the atrocities committed at the music festival on October 7th, keffiyeh-clad mobs board the NYC subway, demanding that ‘Zionists’ identify themselves and warning riders… pic.twitter.com/fF1Y3Xem9P
— The Israel Files (@theisraelfiles) June 11, 2024
Gottehrer added that the mask ban’s exceptions were inadequate: “Nassau County police officers are not health professionals or religious experts capable of deciding who needs a mask and who doesn’t.”
A mask ban proposal gained traction in June after masked protesters in a subway car chanted “Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist.” That same evening protesters, many of them masked, demonstrated outside an exhibit commemorating the Nova music festival massacre in a rally widely condemned as antisemitic.
The proposal earned the endorsement of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, both Democrats. It also gained the support of the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP New York State Conference.
At a joint press conference with the antisemitism watchdog on June 29, Hazel Dukes the president of the Black advocacy group NAACP’s New York State Conference, cited the white hoods of the racist Ku Klux Klan in her endorsement of a mask ban.
