It was not that long ago that masks were assiduously worn in public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Even then, at the height of the pandemic, mask-wearing sometimes became a political statement.

Today masks continue to be the subject of intense political debate – but now, owing to the virulent spread of antisemitism set off by the October 7 massacre and war in Gaza, it is argued that face-concealing masks have enabled blatant antisemitism to go unpunished.

In New York City, Jews have been shouted at to go back “to the gas chambers”, punched in the face, sprayed with harmful chemicals, hit by rocks and chairs, and beaten with umbrellas – in many cases by perpetrators wearing masks.

In response, one Republican-controlled legislature in Nassau County on Long Island voted last week to ban mask wearing in public unless worn for health or religious reasons.

The face covering that was once been widely used to keep people alive, legislators argued, has now evolved into a tool enabling Jew hatred. Violators of the new mask ban face up to a year in jail or a $1,000 (£783) fine. The bill, which passed along party lines with 12 Republicans voting in favour and seven Democrats abstaining, also grants police more authority to demand that masks be removed “when the officer has reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and/or intention to partake in criminal activity”.

“People should be free to voice their concerns, but they should do so showing their faces,” Mazi Melesa Pilip, the Republican legislator who introduced the Mask Transparency Act, told the JC.

Pilip, who grew up in a rural village in Ethiopia and immigrated to Israel before moving to the USA, added: “Too often politicians have spoken out against antisemitism but done nothing about it. Talk is cheap. Now is the time for action against protesters who use masks to hide their identities to harass our residents and make them unsafe.”

Pilip is not the first to push for a mask ban in public. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in June she was considering a mask ban on New York City’s subway system in order to tackle antisemitism.

New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, also encouraged shopkeepers to refuse service to customers who don’t lower their masks as they enter stores to prevent robberies, which have risen citywide by 5 per cent compared to last year, according to the NYCPD.

In recent months, civil rights advocacy organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), also likened the pervasive sight of masked protesters to the hooded white supremacist Ku Klux Klan who launched campaigns of violence against African Americans.

“Just as white hoods emboldened the KKK nearly a century ago to conceal their identities and terrorise minority communities, modern radicals are using intimidating face coverings to engage in violence and property destruction as they seek to oppress the basic civil rights not just of the Jewish people, but of ALL Americans,” Michelle Ahdoot, director of the End Jew Hatred civil rights movement, told the JC.

Among those invited by Mazi Melesa Pilip to speak in favour of the mask ban before the vote at the Nassau County legislature was Ari Ackerman, a Jewish activist and serial entrepreneur based in Manhattan. “This bill is about common sense,” he said. “In most cases, protesters are wearing masks at protests not for health reasons, but to antagonise and harrass Jewish people and to get away with it.”

Ackerman added that though the passage of the Mask Transparency Act has garnered some media attention and outcry, the ban is hardly new. New York State had bans in place for mask wearing in public for around two centuries before the law was changed in 2020 during the pandemic. “I trust that the police will now be more empowered at rallies to determine who is wearing masks for health or religious reasons, and who is there for the wrong reasons.”

Critics of the Mask Transparency Act argue that the ban impinges on freedom and paves the way for political censorship. After the law passed law week, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), part of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, said: “Outlawing anonymous dissent in an era of mass surveillance is not the answer to public safety…It leaves ample discretion to officers to assess why someone may be covering their face. It paves the way for political censorship, particularly amid fears of doxing, violence and excessive policing against pro-Palestinian supporters.”

But for Abraham Hamra, a law firm partner and Great Neck resident in Nassau County, the mask ban provides residents with the very protection that he and his family never had as Jewish minorities in Syria.

“I heard a lot of people in the opposition speak about how this bill would hurt marginalised communities, but what this bill actually does is unmask hate,” Hamra said.

“I would love to see politicians who previously stood up for marginalised communities now stand up for the Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese, Moroccan and other minority Jewish communities who were among the 850,000-one million Arab and Middle Eastern Jews who were ethnically cleansed from their countries last century as a result of this kind of hate.”

Jonathan Harounoff is the author of the forthcoming book Unveiled: Inside Iran’s #WomenLifeFreedom Revolt