He’s changed his tune.
Mayor de Blasio now says both political parties must work together to combat anti-Semitism after spending months blaming the surge in violence on the right, according to Orthodox Jewish community leaders who met with Hizzoner in Brooklyn Thursday.
The closed-door meeting in Borough Park came as City Hall attempts to battle back against charges Hizzoner has responded sluggishly to a string of attacks against Jews in the metro area.
“He didn’t say he blamed Washington now,” Motty Katz, a member of the Borough Park Shomrim who attended the mayoral confab, told The Post Friday. “He was saying everybody is a part of it no matter if you’re left or right.”
In June de Blasio insisted anti-Semitism was a “right-wing movement” and blamed President Trump for fueling attacks on Jews.
He doubled down on Dec. 13, telling WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that “most” of the “violent and anti-Semitic attacks around this country” are “fermented systematically and in an organized fashion by right-wing forces.”
“In this country, we have seen a rise of violent anti–Semitism. It is directly related to the permission that’s being given to hate speech in that last three years and that obviously connects to the election of Donald Trump,” de Blasio told the radio host.
But, on Thursday, with Orthodox Jewish leaders who largely back both the mayor and the president, de Blasio took a different tact.
“The mayor said, ‘Look, this issue transcends politics. We all must come together to combat anti-Semitism’,” a de Blasio administration official told The Post.
The official said the mayor’s comments were in response to one of the leaders who brought up Hizzoner’s past statements blaming hate crimes against Jews on Trump.
Avi Greenstein, head of the Borough Park Jewish Community Council, confirmed that the mayor didn’t talk about Trump or say anti-Semitism was a right-wing issue at the sit-down.
Instead, he listened to Jewish leaders who asked for better communication between the community and local NYPD leaders as well as changing the recent bail reform law to hold perpetrators of hate crimes responsible for their actions.
“I think the mayor is committed to all that,” Greenstein said.