When someone continually tells you who they are, believe them.

Mayor Bill de Blasio sent out a bonkers tweet last night in which he singled out the “Jewish community” and threatened to start arresting them if they congregated. Why he felt he needed specifically to cite Jews is a bit of a mystery. Well, other than he and his city have a long history of issues with anti-Semitism I suppose.

My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 29, 2020

The allusions to the rounding up of Jews in Nazi Germany are impossible to miss. In a broader sense, very few people seem to be asking whether the government, local or federal, have the legal right to arrest people for exercising their constitutional rights in the first place. Singling out the Jewish community is just an escalation of something that affects us all.

What prompted this? From the Mayor’s further posts, it appears there was a funeral that took place outdoors for a Rabbi. A crowd of people gathered in the street to show their respects and honor their traditions. From a practical standpoint, the latest science tells us that the disease essentially does not spread outdoors. Even on surfaces, it can only last a few minutes in warmer conditions and sunlight. These people were probably never safer than standing outside within a couple of feet of each other compared to most other situations.

After de Blasio tweeted his threat, people began to rightly respond.

No big deal here just the mayor of New York telling Jews that "the time for warning has passed" and promising to round them up and arrest them if they exercise their First Amendment rights. Totally fine. Who could possibly have a problem with this? https://t.co/S1JAD9T6CQ

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 29, 2020

"My message to all communities, looking at you jews." https://t.co/csO18Rh59w

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 29, 2020

I can't imagine de Blasio saying this about any other community. It's pretty amazing. And for the record, MANY of the leaders of the Jewish community have taken strong stands on social distancing. https://t.co/aqlL7Yr8Xs

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 29, 2020

Of course, while de Blasio felt the need to generalize the whole of Jews in New York here, he’s had no problem with others gathering in large crowds, nor he and his wife themselves breaking the rules.

The @NYCMayor is hypocrite. He has no problems with mass gatherings. Just with Jewish mass gatherings pic.twitter.com/838MBUTPWz

— Kelly (@sapir295) April 29, 2020

The above pictures are from an event he held just three days before the tweet about the “Jewish community.” Weird, does the virus not spread outdoors when it’s for his own political photo-op?

The @NYCMayor is hypocrite. He has no problems with mass gatherings. Just with Jewish mass gatherings pic.twitter.com/838MBUTPWz

— Kelly (@sapir295) April 29, 2020

You can bet de Blasio would never single out the “black community” or “Asian community” like this.

Americans are going to have to decide how much longer they put up with this. The goodwill based on nebulous, often unproven claims about saving lives has begun to run out. Governments all over the country are abusing people’s rights, even in instances where it’s clearly irrelevant to safety. We can push back or let this become the new normal.