Anti-Semitic Remarks At Rockland Meeting Shock Officials

HAVERSTRAW, NY — A man who started out asking about whether the existing infrastructure at a house in Haverstraw can support its conversion to a shul moved into an anti-Semitic rant at the town planning board Wednesday that shocked local officials into stopping him in mid-spate.

The line that caused the uproar was:

"A certain sect of people tend to walk in the street, and nobody is wearing any reflective gear,” said Nick Collela. “So, if I run one of them over – and of course I’m gonna back over them again…”

He stopped talking after a police officer approached him. Then, as the uproar subsided, he was followed by a woman who made sarcastic remarks and gestures to a man who was taking a video of the meeting. She did not identify herself when asked, but insisted the taping was illegal and when officials said it was legal, she responded, "they can do whatever they want."

The video was posted in an article on Yeshiva World. You can watch it here.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day responded with a statement Thursday evening:

"This is beyond disgusting and not what the people of Rockland are all about. We can disagree, argue and quarrel but the line is crossed when you state 'There is a certain sect of people that tend to walk in the street, and nobody is wearing any reflective gear. So, if I run one of them over – and of course I’m gonna back over them again.'

"There is an intelligent and respectful way to make your point and this is clearly not that. This discourse is utterly ignorant and hateful and on behalf of the vast majority of the good people of Rockland, I condemn it in no uncertain terms."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul even weighed in.

Collela said the town was becoming "Ramapo North." Ramapo Town Supervisor Michael B. Specht condemned Collela's remarks, calling them "a dangerous and despicable manifestation of antisemitism that must be condemned in the strongest terms possible."

“As an elected official and as a Jew, I took umbrage at the antisemitic remarks that were made, and I will not remain silent while bigotry rears its ugly head,” Specht said in his statement. “We must push back against the hate by denouncing it and by promoting greater tolerance of one another.

“I commend the members of the Haverstraw Planning Board for doing the right thing and refusing to remain silent while this individual engaged in hatemongering. Antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue – it is an American issue and a global issue – and it is up to all of us to send a clear message that antisemitism and bigotry of any kind have no place whatsoever in our town, our county, our state, our country, or our world.”