New York’s suburban Nassau County has passed a bill to ban masks intended to hide the identities of pro-Palestinian protesters against U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
The mask ban covers any public protest, with lawmakers in the Republican-controlled county stating that it aims to prevent violent and antisemitic protesters from concealing their identities and evading accountability. Civil rights advocates view the measure as a restriction on free speech rights.
The bill was approved late on Monday, with all 12 Republicans in the county legislature voting in favor while the seven Democrats abstained.
Wearing a facial covering to hide identity in public is now a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Exceptions are made for health or medical reasons and for “religious and cultural purposes.”
“Unless someone has a medical condition or a religious imperative, people should not be allowed to cover their face in a manner that hides their identity when in public,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican, about the bill he is expected to sign.
The New York Civil Liberties Union criticized the bill as an attack on free speech.
“Masks protect people who express political opinions that are unpopular. Making anonymous protest illegal chills political action and is ripe for selective enforcement,” said Susan Gottehrer, the Nassau County regional director of NYCLU.
Gottehrer added that the mask ban’s exceptions were inadequate: “Nassau County police officers are not health professionals or religious experts capable of deciding who needs a mask and who doesn’t.”
The U.S., Israel’s key ally, has seen months of protests, including in New York, against Israel’s war in Gaza that has killed nearly 40,000 according to the local health ministry, caused a hunger crisis, and displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million. It has also led to genocide allegations that Israel denies.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The U.S. has also seen a rise in anti-Muslim incidents, anti-Palestinian bias, and antisemitism amid the war and its resulting protests and counter-protests.