Twitter Blasts Brick Mayor's Reply To Anti-Semitic Tweet

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey has found himself as the focus of a Twitter firestorm over his response an anti-Semitic tweet from a resident, with many charging Ducey's reply was anti-Semitic in its own right.

The initial tweet, by simms10471 sent about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday read: "@Mayor Ducey, can we please do something about our parks and beaches. They are being invaded by the hasidic and orthodox jews and being ruined. Our tax paying residents are being forced out while politicians sit and do nothing," the tweet read.

Ducey's response said: "Our parks security has started already. Just call police with any problems and they will send them out."

The Twitter exchange between Ducey and simms10471 — whom internet searches show is a Brick Township resident who has since deleted all his social media accounts — continued beyond that initial exchange, with Ducey telling the man that because the parks were purchased using Green Acres funding, they are open to everyone for use, regardless of whether they live in Brick Township or not.

"What I was trying to do was put myself as the target instead of empowering his anti-Semitism," Ducey said Wednesday afternoon. He said the man was demanding the parks be closed to only township residents, and when Ducey told him that wasn't possible — because of the rules that accompany the use of Green Acres funds to purchase open space — the man got angry with him and called him "another do-nothing politician."

"I wanted to put the target on my back and take his focus off those using the park," Ducey said.

"Legally everyone has a right to these parks, just as we do when we go to Central Park or Myrtle Beach or any other public place," Ducey said. "All members of all communities, including the Orthodox and the Hasidic communities are welcome and present in our parks."

Brick Township has seasonal security in its parks to prevent vandalism and loitering, an addition it made a couple of years ago. The security patrols generally begin once the weather warms up and the parks begin daily use. It is park security that is dispatched if someone calls police to report a problem in one of the parks.

Ducey said his hope in his reply was that he would defuse the situation, because he knew the man would not call the police "because there was no problem at the park."

But that initial exchange instead set off a much larger storm as it got highlighted in screenshots shared repeatedly on Twitter several hours later.

A user named Yashar Ali, identified as a HuffPost contributor, shared a screenshot of the two tweets about 9 p.m. with commentary asking why Ducey didn't call out the anti-Semitism.

"A constituent tweets at the Mayor of Brick Township, New Jersey about parks and beaches being 'invaded by the Hasidic and Orthodox Jews and being ruined.' The Mayor responds about parks security but makes no mention of the tweeters anti-Semitic tone," Ali wrote.

The Lakewood Scoop followed suit, with a tweet about 10:45 p.m linking to the screenshot on its Instagram account and a simple, "Just wow."

Twitter users from around the world soon began blasting Ducey, calling him anti-Semitic, sending expletive-laden rants and saying his reply to simms10471 echoed Nazi actions.

"Mayor Ducey please don't call the gestapo," one user named Tzuri Merzel said.

Another said, "Don't call out the brownshirts," another reference the Gestapo, the Nazis' police force.

Others urged him to apologize and call the original tweet out for its anti-Semitic sentiments.

"You had an opportunity to knock this one out of the park for his anti-semitism and you wiffed. #weak," wrote Sam P. Kapoor.

Ducey replied to many of the critical tweets late Tuesday night and early Wednesday, and continued to reply to the criticisms Wednesday.

"People took 'them' (the reference to police dispatching park security) as meaning the Orthodox and that was a misinterpretation," Ducey said. In a tweet to a user named DovBear, he acknowledged that he could see why people interpreted the statement that way.

"I can see how one could read it that way if you do not know me," Ducey said in the tweet.

Anyone who's attended more than a couple of Brick Township Council meetings can see that Ducey, who is a lawyer, does not speak with the formal tone of a lawyer outside the courtroom. His Twitter posts over the course of the five years he's had the account reflect a similar, not-formal tone. That less-formal speech has been used against him by his political opponents in the past, and clearly made him a target of criticism Wednesday.

He did acknowledge to the user named DovBear that while he felt he succeeded in taking simms10471's focus off the Orthodox community, his response "obviously failed in the big picture."

Ducey isn't the first Ocean County mayor to be accused of anti-Semitism. Toms River Mayor Thomas Kelaher was roundly criticized in 2016 following an interview with Bloomberg where he referenced "an invasion" of Orthodox Jews — a remark Kelaher said was him repeating comments by residents and not his personal opinion.

There has been growing friction between the Orthodox and Hasidic communities and neighboring residents of towns surrounding Lakewood for at least the last five years, as differences in cultural customs lead to clashes.

Comments similar to those made by simms10471 show up in local town forums on Facebook; ironically, while Ducey was replying to criticisms of his response, a post in a neighboring town's forum expressed the same sentiment, asking why parks couldn't be limited to use by a town's residents. That poster received a mix of support and harsh criticism for her views .

Ducey said by phone that the controversy over his reply to simms10471 was the first time he'd had such an experience with social media.

"It (social media) is something I have to be a part of, and I try to be as open and accessible as I can," he said. "I still feel it's important to be accessible to everyone in town."

"But being open and accessible has its consequences," Ducey said.

If he had it to do over again? "I wouldn't respond to it now," he said.

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