Yitzchok Kornbluh, father of New York journalist Jacob Kornbluh, expressed "horror and disgust at the trolls and vile comments and curses directed towards Jacob," in a letter published in Yeshiva World News.
Kornbluh the son had reported his synagogue to the police for being open in contravention of lockdown regulations.
Responding to an avalanche of invective directed at his son both in person and on the social networks, some accusing him of "mesira", or informing, Yitzchok Kornbluh wrote: "Suppose a Jew climbs into an apartment building in the dead of the night with an intent to steal and possible injure you or your family in the process, would you consider it Mesira to call Police? What he did was to report his Shul as being open to the public at a time when there was total lockdown, when Yidden were dying in the dozens; and hence his agenda was to alert the authorities to prevent further deaths and make sure that the Mispallelim stay safe at home and do not go to Shul at a time when COVID-19 was raging."
The father continued: "There was no political nor financial motive besides advocating wellbeing and promoting protective safety measures for his fellow Shul members through alerting the Mayor who agreed to deploy police officers just to disperse the gathering. No one was arrested, No one was jailed, no one was fined, no one was deported, no one was exiled. How can his actions be considered as legitimate Mesira?"
The father said the bad name generated for Jews inherent "in watching fellow Jews behaving like crazed anarchists in chanting booing and baying for Jacobs blood like hoodlums and egged on by a mob Leader is just beyond comprehension."
"What message does such behavior send to our young children?" he asked.
The letter ended by challenging anyone with a legitimate claim against Jacob to take it up with the appropriate Jewish legal channels, "but to act as judge and jury in condemning him for his actions and meting out such abhorrent retribution is just not acceptable."