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New York State man calls for emergency services, requests ‘no Jewish’ medics

Yossi Gestetner of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council told JNS that the first responders who arrived “are largely staffed by volunteers who are visibly Jewish.”

New York Ambulance
Ambulance in New York. Credit: Alan Batt/Pixabay.

An unnamed individual in Ramapo, N.Y., called to request medical care but when an emergency crew arrived, he insisted that no Jews be inside the ambulance for the trip to the hospital.

In a video posted on social media, audio from one first responder plays in which he asks a dispatch officer, “The patient is requesting no Jewish providers on the ambulance. Can you see if we could accommodate?”

The answer: “Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate that request.”

Yossi Gestetner, executive director and co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, shared the exchange online.

“The incident happened on Sunday, Oct. 13, at around 7:40 in the evening,” Gestetner told JNS. “There, a person claimed to have needed medical care on the street. Local/911 EMS (Spring Hill and Faist) showed up, so he started acting up. Both of those ambulance corps are largely staffed by volunteers who are visibly Jewish.”

Gestetner said the man was checked after claiming that he was hit by a vehicle at an intersection but ended up walking away from the scene.

Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, told JNS that “we understand that those who characterize us that way, rather than as the civil rights organization we are, generally aim to marginalize us or undermine our efforts.”
Michael Specht, Ramapo Town Council supervisor, called the incident “very disturbing.”
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