De Blasio was venting his frustrations when a large crowd attended the funeral in the Williamsburg area of New York on Tuesday, resulting in the mayor going down to break up the service along with police.

In a series of tweets, the mayor said that the “Jewish community” as well as other communities will face arrest if they continue to gather in large groups amid the coronavirus.

According to Yeshiva World, the funeral which was attended by hundreds was that of Rabbi Chaim Mertz’s, who died from COVID-19 at the age of 73.

“Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic,” de Blasio wrote on Twitter.

“When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus.

“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.”

He added: “We have lost so many these last two months + I understand the instinct to gather to mourn. But large gatherings will only lead to more deaths + more families in mourning.

“We will not allow this. I have instructed the NYPD to have one standard for this whole city: zero tolerance.”

The remarks and subsequent warning were criticized for making sweeping statements against the city’s large Jewish population based on a tiny percentage of those who failed to socially distance themselves.

Chaim Deutsch, a New York City Council member, was one of those who condemned de Blasio’s comments as “a joke.”

Deutsch wrote on Twitter: “Did the Mayor of NYC really just single out one specific ethnic community (a community that has been the target of increasing hate crimes in HIS city) as being noncompliant?? Has he been to a park lately? (What am I saying—of course he has!)

“But singling out one community is ridiculous,” Deutsch wrote. “Every neighborhood has people who are being non-compliant. To speak to an entire ethnic group as though we are all flagrantly violating precautions is offensive, it’s stereotyping, and it’s inviting antisemitism. I’m truly stunned.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, also lashed out at de Blasio for “scapegoating” Jewish people in the wake of record levels of anti-Semitic attacks in the city.

“Hey @NYCMayor, there are 1mil+ Jewish people in #NYC. The few who don’t social distance should be called out—but generalizing against the whole population is outrageous especially when so many are scapegoating Jews,” Greenblatt wrote on Twitter. “This erodes the very unity our city needs now more than ever.”

The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council also noted de Blasio did not condemn those who gathered in New York to watch the military flyover which occurred over the city on the same day.

“Williamsburg has more than 12K Hasidic families with an average family size of almost six. This is almost 72K people. To pin the few 100 attendees (mostly teens) on NYC’s Jewish Community at large is wrong,” the organization wrote on Twitter.

Freddi Goldstein, de Blasio’s press secretary, denied accusations that the mayor was trying to target the Jewish community with his remarks.

“The mayor has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Jewish community since his earliest days in public service,” Goldstein told The New York Times.

“There were thousands of people gathered today, putting their lives and the lives of others at risk. It is his responsibility to all New Yorkers to speak up.”

De Blasio’s office has been contacted for further comment.

There are more than 287,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York, with nearly 17,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University. A total of 115,936 people have managed to recover from the virus across the U.S.

This infographic, provided by Statista, shows the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as of April 28.

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