NYC mayor raises eyebrows with statement on Syrian refugees at synagogue

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday called on a the Syrian Jewish community in the city to empathize with Muslim refugees from their shared homeland and welcome them to New York.

In a Sabbath speech at Brooklyn’s Congregation Shaare Zion, de Blasio compared Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country with Jews fleeing the Nazis, according to the 'New York Post'.

“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 paper quoted de Blasio as saying in his address.

“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 reportedly added.

According to the 'New York Post', some worshippers disputed the mayor’s historical interpretation, one telling the newspaper that the "difference between me coming here in 1991 with my family is that we were kicked out for being Jewish.”

The congregation applauded came when the mayor vowed to protect the city’s Jews in the wake of targeted attacks in Jerusalem and Paris this year.

Syrian Jews endured persecution in their homeland, and between 1948 and 1973 alone the community shrank from 30,000 to 2,000 Jews, with many emigrating to the United States. Today, there are no Jews left in the war-torn country.