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Monday, September 29, 2025
US Justice Department files complaint against anti-Israel protesters in New Jersey
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleLuke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
The US Department of Justice files a civil complaint against anti-Israel protesters who rallied outside a synagogue in New Jersey last year.
The complaint is filed under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a federal measure meant to protect abortion clinics that also covers houses of worship. Jewish legal advocates have used the FACE Act to defend synagogues.
The complaint alleges that the protesters “engaged in threats of force, intimidation, and violent conduct directed at congregants” of the Congregation Ohr Torah synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, in November 2024.
The protest was part of a series of rallies aimed at disrupting events marketing Israeli real estate in the US.
The complaint says the protest was intended to interfere with the community’s right to freely exercise their religion, in violation of federal civil rights protections.
“No American should be harassed, targeted, or discriminated against for peacefully practicing their religion,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi says in a statement. “Today’s lawsuit underscores this Department of Justice’s commitment to defending Jewish Americans — and all Americans of faith — from those who would threaten their right to worship.”
Defendants include the far-left Party for Socialism and Liberation New Jersey, American Muslims for Palestine New Jersey, and some of the individual protesters.
The complaint says the protesters perpetrated physical assaults, antisemitic and threatening chants, and defied police orders to intimidate Jewish worshipers.
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