DHAKA: In an attempt to urge a congregation of Syrian Jews to empathize with the plight of Muslims refugees currently fleeing their common homeland.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday compared the flocks of Syrians currently leaving their embattled country with Jews escaping the Nazis, The Jerusalem Post publishes this report on Sunday.

De Blasio made the remarks in a Shabbat address encouraging the worshipers at Brooklyn's Orthodox Congregation Sha'are Zion to welcome the Middle Eastern emigrants to the American metropolis, The New York Post reported.

During his speech, de Blasio also pledged to the Brooklyn congregation that he would work to protect New York's Jewish population in light of various recent attacks claimed by Islamists in Europe and Israel.

“I know this community understands deeply the pain of any family that must leave a homeland they love because they were forced away by violence and discrimination,” the Post quoted him as saying to the congregation.

“When it comes to saving children and families from one of the greatest crises of our times, I remind people to look at history,” he continued.

However, the report noted that the New York mayor received a skeptical response from the crowd with some worshipers disagreeing with the comparison.

The Post cited Brooklyn congregant Judy Zarug as dismissing the comparison as unfair, stating that: "The Jews never had a history of being destructive.”

Another synagogue-goer, whose family left Syria more than two decades ago, explained that the difference was that Jews were expelled from their homeland on the basis of religion.

While the Obama administration announced in September that it planned in 2016 to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees fleeing violence from a more-than-four-year civil war, various state leaders have opposed the move citing security fears.

BDST: 2215 HRS, DEC 06, 2015
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