COVID-19 presser halted after maskless Jewish activists harasses officials

"He's lying! When a man lies, he has to be interrupted! You are a liar," Tischler yelled, according to the New York Post. "Your reports are lies. You are lying and I won't allow lies to be given out.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 13:13

Gazing out at the altered skyline from a perch in Brooklyn, August 14 (photo credit: ANDREW KELLY / REUTERS) — Gazing out at the altered skyline from a perch in Brooklyn, August 14

(photo credit: ANDREW KELLY / REUTERS)

Former Brooklyn City Council candidate Heshy Tischler forced a press conference covering the recent spike in coronavirus cases to pause after he began verbally harassing the city health officials present, according to The New York Post.

Tischler - who is an observant Jew and wears a kippah - began yelling at Dr. Michael Katz, who heads the city's public hospitals, with his mask in his hand, repeatedly calling the official a liar - even at one point calling the health department officials "violent Nazi stormtroopers."

"He's lying! When a man lies, he has to be interrupted! You are a liar," Tischler yelled, according to the New York Post. "Your reports are lies. You are lying and I won't allow lies to be given out."

"Your numbers today are lies. Go ahead, continue to lie, you piece of garbage," he continued. "You do not belong here. Why are you making a press conference here? Why isn’t it at City Hall?"

Katz repeatedly asked Tischler to put back on his mask, to which Tischler told Katz to "get the hell out of my community, you filthy animal."

"Move away. You are not six feet away. Put on your mask," Katz said to Tischler.

After the pleas came to no resolve, the press conference was halted after 19 minutes.

Tischler's tirade follow's Katz announcement that his father died from COVID-19 in Israel, chastising the New York Orthodox communities for their involvement in the viral spread.

Six heavily Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens are currently contributing 20% of all new COVID-19 cases in New York City, and rising cases there are cause for “significant concern,” city health officials announced Tuesday.

The new data comes amid signs of growing alarm in New York City’s Orthodox communities about the possible beginning of a second wave of cases, after a brutal spring and relatively quiet summer.

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The data corresponds to what doctors on the ground in the neighborhoods are reporting — that the number of cases is rising sharply in areas that were hit hard in March and April.

Tischler ran for City Council in 2017. He will attempt another bid in 2021, according to the report.

Shira Hanau/JTA contributed to this report.