
Protest at NJ synagogue hosting IDF soldiers investigated as hate crime
✡️ Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside a South Orange synagogue
✡️Members of an elite IDF rescue unit were speaking inside
✡️Anti-Semetic graffiti was spray painted on the synagogue's driveway
SOUTH ORANGE — Protesters chanted outside a synagogue Sunday and spray painted anti-Semitic graffiti on its driveway as members of the Israeli military spoke inside.
Abigail Treu, rabbi at Oheb Shalom, said that pro-Palestinian protesters timed their protest to an appearance by two members of the elite Israeli Defense Force (IDF) search and rescue team unit 669. The protest is being investigated as a hate crime by South Orange police and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
"People who stand outside our building, calling us terrorists, making us feel threatened or on the defensive as we undertake the peaceful work of joining in local community, do not have a place here. Not at Oheb, and I know not at our neighboring synagogue partners, either. Our tent is a large one, but it has walls," Treu said.
Mayor Sheena Collum said in a statement the chants are protected by the First Amendment. She said the group went a step further by painting an arrow on the synagogue's driveway pointing at the building with the message “terrorists this way."
"This act of intolerance is deeply disturbing and has no place in our community. We must come together, united in our commitment to stand against hate, bigotry, and discrimination in all forms. This is not just an attack on one group; it is an attack on the values that bind us all as neighbors," Collum said.
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Bias crime investigation
The mayor said the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit and South Orange police are investigating as a bias crime.
Assemblywoman Rosaura “Rosy” Bagolie, D-Essex, said the incident happened the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day. She called for the passage of a bipartiadan bill she co-sponsors calling for the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. It was introduced in 2024 and referred to the Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee.
Unit 669 is one of four elite units in the IDF whose mission is to extract soldiers and pilots from behind enemy lines. Its symbol is a cat, representing its ability to operate with agility but aggressively in a hostile environment.
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