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The Justice Department sued participants in a confrontation at a New Jersey synagogue that devolved into violence. An official said there might be more such cases to come.
Sept. 29, 2025, 7:56 p.m. ET
The Trump administration is repurposing a law traditionally used to shield reproductive health clinics to pursue a civil case against pro-Palestinian demonstrators, taking a side in a dispute that roiled New Jersey last year.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on Monday filed a lawsuit against two New Jersey advocacy groups and six people who protested outside a synagogue, accusing them of engaging in a “coordinated effort to intimidate and disrupt Jewish worshipers at a religious event.”
Wassim Kanaan, the chairman of one of the groups, American Muslims for Palestine-New Jersey, declined to comment. In the past, he has said that such protests have “nothing to do with the Jewish faith” and are directed at “the policies of the state of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians.” The other defendants could not immediately be reached for comment.
The events the suit describes took place last November in West Orange, N.J., about 20 miles west of Manhattan. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators had gathered to protest a real estate fair at which property in Israel and in the West Bank was expected to be offered. Such shows have been held for decades, but they have taken on a new symbolism during Israel’s war in Gaza, setting off fierce protests across New Jersey.
The November protest was particularly contentious. Masked protesters holding plastic horns called vuvuzelas and signs reading “Stop the Sale of Stolen Palestinian Land” clashed with pro-Israel counterprotesters outside Congregation Ohr Torah, an Orthodox synagogue in the neighborhood.
Ultimately, two pro-Israel demonstrators were charged with aggravated assault, including one, Moshe Glick, who the authorities said hit a demonstrator in the head with a flashlight, sending him to the hospital.
