Taking a break from his polluting daily 11-mile trip to exercise in a Brooklyn gym (because apparently there are no gyms, er, excuse me, fitness centers close by in Manhattan), New York mayor Bill de Blasio (D) commented on several particularly brutal murders and incidents of violence in his city.  Yes, the vicious stabbing of a Barnard College student near campus, allegedly by a 13-year-old with the help of his friends, was bad.  Maybe de Blasio will now push for knife control.

Continuing his concern for stopping violence, de Blasio met with Jersey City Jewish community leaders, condemning the recent multiple, apparently hate-fueled murders there.  But wait!  Jersey City isn't in his city, isn't in his state.  But Brooklyn, N.Y., site of his oh, so special fitness center, is.  And Brooklyn, just several miles from where he dutifully does sit-ups, has been the scene of innumerable attacks against Jews, especially religious Jews easily identifiable by their distinctive attire.  And race.  Yeah, the attackers are black, er, excuse me again, people of color, and the victims are white. 

This is de Blasio's response.

That's right! Nothing.

Manhattan cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder blasted Mayor de Blasio for the surge in anti-Semitic crimes in the city.

"This is a crisis for all New Yorkers," Lauder, who is also president of the World Jewish Congress, told The Post. "And Mayor de Blasio needs to understand press releases won't fix the problem. We need actions, not words. Whatever is being done now clearly isn't enough."

But wait.  De Blasio stated that the attacks were caused by "the right wing."

The motivations for the attacks remain murky, but Jewish community leaders do not accept Mayor Bill de Blasio's offered explanation — that right-wing ideology is the root cause.  De Blasio addressed the growing number of incidents in June, pointing his finger at conservatives and arguing that "the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement."

In fact, the victims of the attack tend to lean Right, rather than Left.  David Pollock, associate executive director at the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, told the Washington Examiner that anti-Semitic attacks, in addition to becoming more violent, particularly target "those that are physically identifiable as Jews: Orthodox males."

De Blasio's weak reply should be no surprise.  He is very, very left.  His wife is black.  Blacks are an important constituency of his; the Jews, not so much.  After all, despite the hate Al Sharpton has been vomiting for years, he remains an honored and lauded New York institution.

But the Jewish community — and others who worry about stopping crime no matter against whom by whom — has begun to demand more.  Prodded, de Blasio has begun to act.

Too little?  Too late?  It remains to be seen.

Image: Public Advocate Bill de Blasio via Flickr.