Bigots ‘Zoom Bomb’ West Orange Town Council Meeting With Hate Speech

Editor's Note: Read our update to this article here.

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Several callers “Zoom bombed” the West Orange Town Council meeting on Tuesday night with antisemitic and racist comments. The calls were made in reaction to a proposed resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine war, which was eventually tabled by the council.

The callers – who identified themselves by fake names – made offensive and disjointed tirades against the Jewish community. When council president Bill Rutherford asked them not to use hate speech, he was repeatedly called a racial slur.

The meeting was held remotely via Zoom due to a snowstorm.

In the wake of last night’s meeting, West Orange for Humanity – a local pro-Palestine advocacy group – bashed the callers for their “depraved, antisemitic and racist hate speech.” The group is calling for local police to launch an investigation.

Advocates alleged that the offensive calls may be part of a larger “campaign of hate” that has been taking place in other U.S. cities:

“We have come to understand that this attack was in all likelihood part of a coordinated effort by white supremacists to “Zoom Bomb” city council meetings in cities and towns across the U.S. such as Anacortes, WA, Calabasas, CA, Winthrop, MA, and Iowa City. The media coverage of the Iowa City attack reveals that the speakers used the same alias as one of the speakers in the West Orange Town Council meeting, further convincing us that this was part of a coordinated campaign of hate from outside of West Orange.”

“We are upset and saddened that the rising tide of white supremacist hate in our country reared its ugly head in our community,” the group continued.

“We send our support to our town council members who had to endure the painful and offensive racist and antisemitic language,” advocates said. “It is especially agonizing that these attacks came at the same time as residents across our town have been voicing their concerns about a rise in Islamophobia and antisemitism across the country, and unfortunately, right here in West Orange.”

The West Orange Human Relations Commission also released a statement about the bigoted comments that infected Tuesday night's council meeting.

“West orange is a beautiful and diverse community,” the group wrote. “Diverse in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and ideology. At the bedrock of that community must lay a sense of belonging and inclusion, and the ability to engage and interact in a welcoming manner.”

The commission continued:

“That sense of community and our commitment to creating safe spaces must also hold as it relates to town governance and the exchange of ideas that happen in our democratic society. The language displayed by several speakers at the council meeting on 2/13/24 was not only deeply inappropriate and harmful to members of our community but also had a limiting impact on both the ability and desire to continue engaging in the dialogue and embrace their rights as residents to participate in their government. The awful antisemitic language and tropes repeated by some throughout the meeting, and the blatant and horrific use of racial slurs, absolutely have no place in West Orange, let alone at a council meeting. Such language contradicts the values of our community. We reiterate our commitment to doing what we can to ensure racism, sexism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and all forms of hate have no home in our society.”

“To those harmed and hurt by the remarks, please reach out to us or find community,” the commission concluded. “We know the comments made at that meeting are not a true reflection of who we are as a township. The spirit of West Orange is reflected in our unity and our ability to become stronger in the face of any elements that threaten our values.”

ISRAEL, PALESTINE AND WEST ORANGE

Like several other towns in New Jersey, West Orange has been seeing vitriolic debate over the Israel-Palestine war, which has claimed thousands of innocent lives and caused immense suffering on both sides.

Read some of our recent coverage in West Orange below (click headlines to read the article).

• Debate Over Antisemitism Rages At West Orange Council Meeting
• West Orange Mayor Cancels Palestine Flag Raising, Critics Cry Foul
• West Orange Students Hold Walkout Over Israel-Palestine War

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