NJ Asks Facebook To Monitor Rise Up Ocean County Group

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An Ocean County Facebook group that has been accused of anti-Semitism has the attention of state authorities, who have asked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to monitor the group.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the state's Division on Civil Rights, in a letter to Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg, asked Facebook to help stem the "rising tide of hate" in New Jersey and across the nation by examining the Rise Up Ocean County Facebook page. The page, started on Facebook in October, has been accused repeatedly in recent weeks of fostering and inciting anti-Semitism.

Rachel Wainer Apter, director of the Division on Civil Rights, said the division reviewed the page and "found posts, comments, and videos that promoted incitements to violence against Orthodox Jews, including 'We need to get rid of them like Hitler did,' 'when they resist, bulldoze them' and '…the gang war has begun.' "

"Far too often, we have seen how hateful comments can escalate to hateful conduct," Grewal said. "Our Division on Civil Rights is committed to fighting this rising tide of hate, and we’ll continue taking proactive steps to make New Jersey a more welcoming community for people of all backgrounds and faiths."

In her letter to Zuckerberg, Wainer Apter says the Rise Up Ocean County page "appears to have been created in late 2018 to oppose what it calls the overdevelopment of Lakewood, New Jersey, by Orthodox Jews."

The administrators of the 10,000-member group say its mission is to bring attention to issues of overdevelopment in Ocean County, not solely Lakewood, and how that overdevelopment is affecting the environment and communities and the county as a whole.

In a response to the letter, the group said, "We concur with the Attorney General that there is a rising tide of hate across our country and here in New Jersey. We disagree with his assertion that any of that originates from within Rise Up Ocean County."

"Our focus has been and remains the environmental destruction of Ocean County, the high-density and almost lawless over development in and around Lakewood, the draining of public school resources to support private religious schools and the stress placed on our already crumbling infrastructure," the response said. "All of these are indeed quality of life issues for Ocean County residents."

Development and its impact on Ocean County has been a hot topic and a very touchy subject for a few years, particularly as Lakewood, whose residents are predominantly Orthodox Jews, has grown: its population was just under 61,000 in 2000 and surpassed 110,000 in 2018. It is projected to exceed 230,000 by 2030, the Asbury Park Press reported in 2017.

Postings on the Rise Up Ocean County page and comments by some members, however, have sparked public criticisms of the group, which says it has plans to publish a documentary about the issues of overdevelopment. Rise Up Ocean County has not been shy about criticizing politicians and has alleged conflicts of interest for many in connection with development in the county.

However, it was a trailer Rise Up Ocean County published in February for the documentary that sparked the first public condemnations. The video showed a group of Orthodox children behind a chain-link fence at a school in Lakewood, with a narrator discussing the potential impacts of the population growth. It also included a rewrite of the famous Martin Niemöller poem, "First they came for the socialists," which he penned after he was freed from a concentration camp after seven years under Nazi rule.

The video was immediately decried as evoking images of the Holocaust and Rise Up Ocean County removed the video from its Facebook page.

"We have set profanity filters at the highest setting and have banned the use of certain words," the group said. "Furthermore, a group of 7 administrators invest countless hours monitoring the comments made by members. We have been COMMENDED by members of the Orthodox community for our efforts to keep focused on the issues."

Both Lakewood Township and the Ocean County Board of Freeholders have passed resolutions specifically condemning the group as fostering hate. Read more: Ocean Freeholders Label Facebook Group As Anti-Semitic

Additionally, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has held press conferences in Jackson and Toms River encouraging those towns' governing bodies to do the same, but neither town has condemned Rise Up Ocean County by name. Read more: Toms River Council Condemns Hate Speech, But Not Facebook Group

In her letter to Zuckerberg, Wainer Apter cites postings to the Rise Up Ocean County page that state the quality of life in Ocean County is "under assault" and that a group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis "who control the fate of Lakewood" is leading an intended "colonization" of the township.

One comment on the Rise Up Ocean County page cited — which Wainer Apter says the page administrators "liked," asserts "Toms River people need to declare war. Surrounding towns will come and join the fight. Wake up people. VOTES WON’T FIX THIS."

"As is the case in life, despite our efforts and the filters offered by Facebook, occasionally things slip through," the group said in response. "Whenever inappropriate content is brought to our attention it is removed immediately. We imagine that the comments that the Attorney General attributes to our page in his letter are indeed there, if he would point those out to us we will gladly delete them as well."

"There is a rising tide of hate around our country and around our state. We at the Division on Civil Rights are working with community organizations to combat it by creating connections, fostering mutual understanding and respect, and confronting stereotypes," Wainer Apter wrote. "You at Facebook also have a role to play in monitoring comments that incite violence based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, and disability."

"Growing RUOC to 10,000+ members did not happen because we are a hate filled, antiSemitic group," the administrators wrote. "To the contrary it happened because we are not, because we invest so much time, energy and effort in keeping the page consistent with Facebook Community Standards."

The page administrators, who have been criticized for refusing to reveal their identities, called on Grewal's office to investigate threats of violence that have been directed at people posting in the Rise Up Ocean County group.

"We have profound respect for the rule of law and maintain that we have at all times
operated within those laws that protect the rights of individuals," the group said, adding that members have filed complaints with the attorney general's office about "harassment, intimidation and threats of violence originating from within the Orthodox Jewish community. People have lost jobs, housing and business relationships as a result, if he needs copies we will be happy to provide them again."

The group also asked the attorney general's office to "immediately begin an investigation into each and every post appearing on our Facebook page that alleges corruption and law breaking, there are plenty that are well documented and practically ready to prosecute," as well as an investigation into the assault on Fred and Pat Robison last September. The couple, who were severely beaten in their home in the gated, age-restricted Fairways commnunity in Lakewood, have been vocal opponents and involved in one of the lawsuits that seek to stop plans to turn Eagle Ridge Golf Course into a residential development with as many as 1,112 residential units.

"Nearly 8 months later and the Lakewood Police Department, Ocean County Prosecutor, F.B.I. and Homeland Security have offered nothing. No suspects, no arrests."

Read Wainer Apter's letter and the full response from Rise Up Ocean County below:

Note: This article has been updated with the response from Rise Up Ocean County

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