In the Press...
Trenton Times article on antisemitism'Antisemitic incidents hit new record highs in N.J. and nationwide'
Ted Sherman at NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Dion Marsh promised “a blood bath,” according to police. In a violent spree last year, the 28-year-old Ocean County man allegedly stabbed an Orthodox man in the chest, carjacked and assaulted a driver, and then ran down two pedestrians in Lakewood and Jackson, later telling detectives that the Jews were “the real devils.” As he faced a judge to be charged with attempted murder, Marsh was unapologetic, interrupting the proceedings to say: “I’m pretty sure he did die.”
That attack on a Friday afternoon last April in one of the state’s largest Jewish enclaves was among 408 reported antisemitic incidents in New Jersey in 2022 — the highest number ever recorded by the Anti-Defamation League in the state and the third-highest number recorded in any state across the country last year, according to a new ADL survey released Thursday. “We are alarmed by another record-setting year for antisemitic incidents in New Jersey, mirroring the trend we saw nationally,” said Scott Richman, the ADL’s regional director. Those incidents occurred in every county but Salem — in schools and colleges, in religious institutions and on street corners — including 244 cases of alleged harassment, 155 reports of vandalism and 9 assaults. The count includes the targeting of Jews in Lakewood by Marsh, who has been indicted in Ocean County and faces additional federal hate crime charges. Other assaults last year included a BB gun shooting in Lakewood and three rock throwing incidents in Union City. In one particularly high-profile episode that triggered a statewide FBI warning and prompted police to increase security around synagogues and Jewish schools, an 18-year-old New Jersey man was arrested and charged in November with posting on social media a manifesto containing threats to attack a synagogue and Jewish people.
Richman believes social media and the continuing polarization of society is partly to blame for an uptick in hate nationwide, not just against Jews but against all communities. Social media gives people a voice, he said, but “it also gives haters a megaphone” for getting their hateful ideas out there. “You see a general emboldening of extremists who are doing things that in the past would not be seen,” Richman observed.
In its report, the ADL said of particular concern was the assaults in New Jersey last year that were obviously directed against members of the Orthodox community, indicating they were specifically set upon because of their religious beliefs. In one, two men in traditional Hasidic clothing walking to synagogue on a Saturday morning were apparently targeted by a snow plow operator, who appeared to deliberately lower his plow before passing, showering them with snow and ice. A short video taken by someone in the passenger seat captured the maneuver as well as the laughter as they drove on by. New Jersey is home to more than 590,000 Jewish residents.
Nationwide, the ADL said there were 3,697 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States last year, a 36% increase over the number of such incidents in 2021, the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. It marked the third time in the past five years that the year-end total hit new records for crimes directed at Jews living in the United States.
Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, labeled it a “dramatic and completely unacceptable” rise. “While we can’t point to any single factor or ideology driving this increase, the surges in organized white supremacist propaganda activity, brazen attacks on Orthodox Jews, a rapid escalation of bomb threats toward Jewish institutions and significant increases of incidents in schools and on college campuses all contributed to the unusually high number,” said Greenblatt in a statement. “This data confirms what Jewish communities across the country have felt and seen firsthand — and corresponds with the rise in antisemitic attitudes. From white nationalists to religious fanatics to radical anti-Zionists, Jewish people see a range of very real threats.” And it continues. Antisemitic tweets have more than doubled since Elon Musk took charge of Twitter, according to recent research by CASM Technology and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Earlier this year, federal authorities here in New Jersey arrested Nicholas Malindretos, 26, of Clifton in January on charges of seeking to damage and destroy a building used in interstate commerce after surveillance footage captured images of a man wearing a ski mask approach the front entrance of a an Essex County synagogue just after 3 a.m. He lit a bottle with a wick and threw it at the door before fleeing on foot, authorities said. The device, described as a Molotov cocktail, did not explode and there were no injuries.
Gov. Phil Murphy would later visit Temple Ner Tamid on Broad Street in Bloomfield where the attempted firebombing took place and vowed New Jersey would “not relent” in fighting back against antisemitism that is “almost exploding” in the state. State Attorney General Matthew Platkin acknowledged that hate and bias crimes are on the rise, both in New Jersey as nationally, and noted the state is working aggressively to respond, encouraging the reporting of all bias and hate incidents.
“That gives me significant concern for how our communities feel right now. I know they’re afraid,” he said. Noting the rise of white nationalism in this country, Platkin said some of those in positions of authority, or celebrities, have increasingly used their stature to normalize antisemitic views. “It has resulted in people being placed in vulnerable positions,” he said. Platkin said the state continues to encourage the reporting of bias and antisemitic crimes. “Let us be the judge of what is a crime or a bias incident. We can only act on what is reported,” he said. The New Jersey incidents recorded by the ADL represented 11% of the total number of antisemitic reports recorded across the entire United States last year.
Ocean County, where Lakewood is located, had the most of any county in the state.
Seventeen antisemitic incidents occurred on New Jersey college campuses. The Alpha Epsilon Pi house at Rutgers was repeatedly targeted by vandals who threw eggs at the fraternity house near the College Avenue Campus last year during Rosh Hashanah and previously during a Holocaust remembrance event. In another incident, someone yelled anti-Semitic comments and tossed objects at members of the fraternity. Forty-six of the incidents reported in New Jersey took place at Jewish institutions in 13 different counties. Those included 39 reports of harassment, 5 of vandalism and 2 assaults, signaling what the ADL called an alarming trend towards the commission of acts of hate at institutions that symbolize the Jewish community as a whole. Among them were 11 bomb threats against Jewish institutions, 9 of them against the same community center. Five of those occurred in a single month. This article ran on page 1 and 8 of the print edition of the Trenton Times, and in other Advance/NJ.com newspapers, and can be found at: https://www.nj.com/news/2023/03/antisemitic-incidents-hit-new-record-highs-in-nj-and-nationwide.html |