Speaking at a synagogue in Brooklyn on Saturday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio compared Syrians fleeing their country’s civil war to Jews escaping the Nazis.

At the Orthodox congregation of Shaare Zion, founded by Syrian Jewish families in the 1940s, de Blasio urged the audience to empathize with the plight of the refugees, The New York Post reported.

During his speech, de Blasio also pledged that he would work to protect New York’s Jewish population in light of various recent attacks claimed by Islamists in Europe and Israel.

“I know this community understands deeply the pain of any family that must leave a homeland they love because they were forced away by violence and discrimination,” the Post quoted him as saying to the congregation.

“When it comes to saving children and families from one of the greatest crises of our times, I remind people to look at history.”