NY pol blasts Museum of Jewish Heritage, Hochul for blatant double standard with DeSantis

Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R) slammed New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Friday for hypocritically stopping Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) from speaking at the venue while allowing Democrats to vent freely there.

In May, leaders of a conservative Jewish group, the Tikvah Fund, announced they had to cancel an event at the museum and relocate to a different location because museum officials objected to DeSantis appearing there and used politics as an excuse to keep him from speaking. Unsurprisingly, Hochul serves as an ex-officio trustee on the museum’s governing board.

At the time, DeSantis was in the middle of the controversy surrounding the “Parental Rights in Education” law which barred public school teachers in grades K through 3 from teaching about sexual orientation.

For the record, the Museum of Jewish Heritage denied that anyone had been banned or canceled, citing “many factual inaccuracies, including fictionalized quotes,” in the original Wall Street Journal story.

Fast forward to last Wednesday when Hochul held a bill-signing ceremony at the museum to promote education about the Holocaust. The double standard did not go unnoticed and the criticism came from all sides.

“I just want to say to the 1.77 million Jews who call New York home: Thank you for calling New York home. Don’t go anywhere or to another state. Florida is overrated. I shouldn’t say this but look at the governor. It starts at the top down,” Hochul sneered. “Getting in trouble – gotta stay on script.”

“A few months ago, @MJHnews refused to rent space for a conf. featuring @RonDeSantisFL to avoid being political. Yesterday, just a little over 2 months before her gubernatorial election, the museum had @GovKathyHochul sign a bill. Will they let me host her (R) opponent @leezeldin?,” Vernikov, a Ukraine-born Jew, asked in a tweet.

“Also,@GovKathyHochul had the Chutzpa to take a shot at @RonDeSantisFL, in the museum from which he was banned, while New Yorkers are flocking to his state in droves. Some non-political affair this was!” she snarked.

Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D) demanded Hochul apologize for criticizing DeSantis at the signing.

“For @GovKathyHochul to attack @GovRonDeSantis at a Holocaust bill signing event is discrediting to her candidacy for governor. That she did so while NY is the national epicenter of violent antisemitism is proof she cares more for politics than people!” he railed.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

The Jewish community should “not be used for photo ops” at the Jewish Heritage Museum, Vernikov told the New York Post in an interview. She also commented that Hochul should focus on improving New York’s business climate and reducing crime instead of taking cheap political shots at DeSantis.

“Instead of pointing fingers at Gov. DeSantis, who has been doing a tremendous job for the Jewish community and all the people of his state, Gov. Hochul has some introspection to do,” Vernikov charged.

“There is a good reason the Jewish community, as well as many New Yorkers, are flocking to Florida in droves. The governor should stop playing politics with Jewish lives and start making changes to bring New York back to the prosperous, safe place it once was,” she asserted.

The councilwoman remarked that “it’s nice” that Hochul signed a Holocaust bill into law but questioned what she has done to address “Jewish students experiencing antisemitism” at state-funded CUNY’s 25 campuses.

“Hochul’s glib smugness aside, it’s no joke that residents of her state are fleeing to the one DeSantis runs. Who gets the last laugh?” Peter Warren, director of research at the Empire Center for Public Policy, tweeted.

“After a breakup, some people cling to the hopes of reconciliation. It’s sad to see governors acting like desperate exes. Perhaps they should spend more time relieving their people of oppressive taxes, needless mandates, shuttered businesses, and crime-infested cities. Florida’s freedom agenda works — they ought to try it,” Dave Abrams, a DeSantis campaign spokesperson, noted.

“Can Hochul really be this out to lunch & clueless about why NY leads the entire nation in population loss? If she stopped crushing freedoms, spending money like a drunken sailor, supporting cashless bail, & backing up rogue DAs like Alvin Bragg, New York could then be saved,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R), the GOP nominee for governor in New York, tweeted.

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