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While McCartney didn’t mention if the activists behind Tuesday’s protest would face citations from the town, she had strong words for organizers.

“As mayor of West Orange, by the deepest measure possible, I strongly condemn the inappropriate exhibit of divisive expression left behind on the steps of our municipal building,” McCartney wrote.

“I unequivocally condemn all expressions of hate including the abhorrent comments this type of behavior incited during the last town council meeting,” she continued.

“West Orange has always been one of the most diverse municipalities in the state of New Jersey,” the mayor said. “We have professed to recognize and respect all faiths, backgrounds, and individuals that make up our safe and welcoming community.”

But solving the Israel-Palestine war isn’t part of the daily duties of the people working at Town Hall, she added.

“We govern as leaders to deal with the day-to-day issues that affect the quality of life in our township,” McCartney said. “The township has absolutely no jurisdiction in addressing issues which have existed for hundreds of years in different parts of the globe. We respect and can empathize with all individuals in our community affected by the ongoing, devastating destruction, but we cannot govern with any sense of changing the trajectory and outcome of these issues.”

McCartney continued:

“Based upon the foregoing, I beseech you to act in and for the best interests of West Orange. We have every right to peacefully demonstrate, let’s do so only in an appropriate forum and manner. Our township employees and residents who need to do business on a daily basis at our municipal buildings come in the spirit of West Orange, we should refrain from any action, which may directly or indirectly intimidate, harass, or make people feel like they are responsible for issues they did not create, and that we cannot solve. God bless West Orange and honor its diversity and the respect of each other that we have come to expect on a daily basis.”

“We have come to learn the racial slurs spewed at the February 13 town council meeting were, thankfully, not from members of our community,” the mayor said.

“I believe our population does believe that Hate Has No Home Here and hate will not and cannot ever triumph,” McCartney concluded. “What we can do is hope and wish and pray for peace. I urge you to please join me in this endeavor.”

The latest protest at Town Hall isn’t the first time that McCartney and West Orange for Humanity have found themselves clashing over the war in the Middle East.

In January, McCartney canceled a Palestinian flag raising event that was scheduled to take place at Town Hall, citing “unforeseen challenges.”

The mayor’s announcement saw both support and criticism in a town that has been starkly divided over the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has claimed thousands of civilian lives and caused incalculable suffering on both sides.

Some community members cheered McCartney’s announcement on social media.

“Thank you for this moral stance,” one person wrote. “There’s no moral equivalency between terrorists and their victims who are defending themselves. Thank you for not giving in to the mob. They may be the loudest, but that doesn’t mean they’re the righteous.”

However, other community members have protested that canceling the Jan. 5 flag raising event was a free speech violation, as the township held a flag raising celebration to mark Israel’s 75th year of statehood in April.

After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, town officials issued a joint statement “in support of Israel along with our West Orange Jewish community” on the municipal website and social media.

The statement – which didn’t mention Palestine or its people – read as follows:

“In light of the surprise attack on Israel in the early hours of Shabbat morning the West Orange Township Mayor and Township Council stand in support of Israel along with our West Orange Jewish Community. Supporting Israel is both a matter of upholding our democratic values here at home and also promotes stability abroad in the region. Israel’s commitment to human rights aligns with Western values and deserves our attention, prayers, and full measure of support today and during the difficult days that lie ahead.”

According to West Orange for Humanity, showing support for the people of Israel was an understandable response to the horrific events that took place on Oct. 7.

But the same respect for the suffering of the people in Gaza should also be shown, activists added.

“Mayor Susan McCartney and her administration approved the event, issued a permit, reviewed the announcement and publicized it – only to take down the announcement a few hours later, with the mayor announcing on social media that she had canceled it,” the group alleged.

“This was due to racist and Islamophobic accusations equating raising a Palestinian flag with support for Hamas and advancing the absurd notion that the phrase included on the event announcement, ‘Palestinian joy is resistance,’ was hateful terminology that could incite violence,” the group said.

The latest back-and-forth over the Israel-Palestine war in West Orange isn’t happening in a vacuum: the area has seen both antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents over the past few years.

For example, swastikas have been found on the sidewalk in front of Temple B’nai Shalom, as well as on the bridge at South Mountain Arena and in public schools in and around West Orange. And in the nearby town of Bloomfield, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the doors of a local synagogue last year. See Related: Debate Over Antisemitism Rages At West Orange Council Meeting

Meanwhile, many West Orange community members with links to Palestine say they’re finding themselves being compared to “terrorists” – something that many New Jersey residents also experienced after the September 11th attacks.

“We have found ourselves feeling unseen, unsafe, and effectively silenced,” West Orange for Humanity wrote in a recent op-ed. “Some of us – including many who are Jewish – are even called antisemitic when we express horror at the indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Gaza, or criticize the state of Israel in any way. Many of us who are Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim have been subjected to the same distrust, discrimination, alienation and anti-Muslim racism that reared its ugly head in post-9/11 America.”

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