2 Cases Of Hate, Anti-Semitism In Long Branch Area Last Year

LONG BRANCH, NJ — There were 216 incidents of hate, extremism and anti-Semitism in New Jersey last year, according to a new report. One occurred in Long Branch, and the other took place in West Long Branch.

The state figure for 2019 decreased from the 452 incidents reported in New Jersey during 2018. But the incidents were no less concerning, the report says. Read more: Hate, Extremism, Anti-Semitism In 112 NJ Towns In 2019: Report

Police found several small swastikas drawn or painted last July around West End Park. The park is about a block away from Chabad of the Shore, a Jewish place of worship.

Long Branch Police Chief Jason Roebuck reached out to the Chabad "to assure them that we are taking all the appropriate and necessary steps in the investigation," he said in a statement. Read more: Swastikas Found Throughout Long Branch's West End Park: Police

In another case, white supremacist group New Jersey European Heritage Association distributed fliers at Monmouth University. The incident took place Nov. 1, according to the report.

They said the following: "Reclaim your nation reclaim your heritage," "Family & tradition our land our culture," "Diversity means no white countries diversity means no white cities," and "Don't believe (((FAKE))) news!"

The triple parenthesis are a symbol placed around the name of a Jew, person of Jewish ancestry or allegedly Jewish-related entity in a derogatory manner.

The report follows a December attack by a Jersey City kosher grocery store in which six people were killed. Gov. Phil Murphy called the incident a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism.

The occurrences in New Jersey identified in the ADL report were among the 4,015 examples of extremist and anti-Semitic incidents that happened nationwide in 2019. The figure reported for 2019 is up almost 32 percent from the 3,052 incidents reported in 2018, according to the ADL.

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