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NJ Officials Condemn Recent Antisemitic Acts

Ang Santos
/
WBGO

New Jersey state and federal elected officials were at a Jewish Community Center in Tenafly to condemn the recent string of antisemitic acts across the country.

Governor Chris Christie says New Jersey law enforcement is aggressively perusing a recent spike in bias crimes.

“We now have $10,000 rewards available for any leads that lead us to the violation of bias crimes.  And anyone in this state who commits that type of crime will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and sent to prison,” Christie said.

There’s a state wide increase of police patrols at houses of worship, cemeteries, and community centers across New Jersey.

“Bias against anyone based upon race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, is completely unacceptable to us as a neighborhood, as a community, as a town, and as a state,” Christie said.

Senator Bob Menendez believes it’s only a matter of time before other perpetrators are brought to justice.

“We will draw them out, this latest wave of antisemitism.  I am confident as we evidenced in today’s arrest in Missouri, that we will find and prosecute those who have committed these acts of hatred,” Menendez said.

Credit Ang Santos / WBGO
/
WBGO
Senator Cory Booker says it’s time for the nation to step up together in defiance against biased crimes.

Senator Cory Booker says it’s time for the nation to step up together in defiance against biased crimes.

“Some coward in the darkness on a telephone who wants to launch threats to us, we must show our united courage, that we will match those jangling discordant tones with our chorus of conviction and love,” Booker said.

NJ Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg says she’s working on a resolution with the state legislature that takes a public stand against anti-Semitism and bigotry in New Jersey.

“I am Jewish.  I am a woman.  I am a mother.  I am a grandmother.  And I am so tired that we have to continue this fight generation after generation.”

Congressmen Bill Pascrell and Josh Gottheimer were there on behalf of the House of Representatives.