Governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday signed legislation establishing buffer zones around religious institutions and Jewish community spaces, prohibiting harassment of individuals entering or exiting such sites — making New York the latest state to enact such protections in the wake of a national surge in antisemitic incidents.

The signing took place at the Met Council’s annual legislative breakfast in New York City, where Hochul addressed a room packed with influential Jewish community figures and elected officials before affixing her signature to the measure. The crowd erupted in applause throughout her remarks, and the governor received a standing ovation.

Hochul was flanked by prominent officials as she signed the bill, including City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Attorney General Letitia James, whose presence underscored the broad support the measure has drawn across state and city government.

“You have no right to harass someone walking into a synagogue with their family to carry on a tradition that has been there for centuries and centuries, and have to put up with people screaming vile epithets,” Hochul said before the signing.

“That is wildly un-American, and it’s definitely not how we do it in New York — and that will be not just condemned but prohibited.”

The governor said the legislation would make it a criminal offense to harass individuals heading into a “religious organization, institution, place of worship, school, or community gathering place.”

Hochul drew on personal testimony in her remarks, citing what she described as repeated images from the aftermath of October 7 that she said she will “never get out of my head, ever, ever, ever,” and expressing frustration at what she characterized as an ongoing pattern of antisemitic incidents across the state.

“I’ve had enough of having to put out social media posts condemning the latest symbol of hate being etched on a wall at a synagogue or a yeshiva,” she said. “I’ve had enough with people being harassed on the streets and in our subways. I’ve had enough with people not being able to go to their place of worship freely as a place of gathering and comfort.”

Hochul also acknowledged community leaders and officials in attendance, including Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Attorney General Letitia James, and state legislators she credited with championing the bill.

Assemblyman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) credited Assembly Speaker Carl Heasty with pushing the bill across the finish line — and said the measure made it into law precisely because of Heasty’s persistence — while noting that the draft version previously had fallen short of what sponsors had originally sought.

“It is only as strong as it is because Speaker Carl Heasty made it that way,” Yeger told Belaaz at the event. “The governor didn’t support our efforts to expand it to what it was, which was to include JCCs and other buildings of Jewish community interest, and the Senate opposed it at the beginning. But when we tried to squeeze those things in, the Senate didn’t actually let us get those pieces in. Carl Heasty wouldn’t leave the table until those things happened. That’s a push over the edge. 100 percent.”

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, who was present at the event, told Belaaz that his office will enforce the new statute alongside existing city law.

“There are two different statutes now — the City Council and the state,” Gonzalez said. “Typically the DAs enforce both administrative law, which is under the New York City administrative law which the City Council can pass, and then we have the state penal law. We’ll work with Commissioner Tisch to establish what the guidelines will be for enforcement.”

Asked directly whether his office would prosecute cases brought under the new law, Gonzalez was unequivocal.

“If you’re asking will I prosecute the cases? Of course,” he said.

The Met Council’s annual legislative breakfast, held each spring, brings together Jewish organizational leaders, elected officials, and community advocates to mark legislative priorities and achievements.