Hundreds attend Strictly Orthodox anti-vaccination meeting in New York state

But Rabbi Hillel Handler, 77, a Holocaust survivor from Brooklyn, claimed on Monday that Jews were being persecuted as “disease carriers” and being attacked for simply sneezing.

“We Chasidim have been chosen as the target. The campaign against us has been successful,” he said. He also attacked New York mayor Bill de Blasio, who declared a separate public health emergency in Brooklyn, claiming the mayor’s real name was “Wilhelm” and that he was named after the monarch who led Germany until after the First World War.

Later in the meeting, pediatrician Lawrence Palevsky told the audience that measles vaccines were in fact producing a new strain of the disease.

But both Rabbi Handler and Dr Palevsky’s claims were untrue, the New York Times reported.

In London, a measles outbreak in the Strictly Orthodox community late last year led to more than 500 children receiving emergency vaccinations.

The outbreak in Stamford Hill, believed to have been triggered by carriers returning from Israel, prompted the Federation Beis Din to declare that “everyone who is healthy enough to be vaccinated must do so, and must vaccinate their children too”.

Politicians in Israel have proposed stricter penalties for parents who fail to vaccinate their children.

This article was amended on May 16 to make clear Andrew Wakefield is no longer a doctor because his licence to practice medicine has been revoked.