Past Comments by Jersey City Mayor Resurface After Tuesday’s Deadly Shooting Rampage

JERSEY CITY, NJ (VINNews) – On Wednesday morning, law enforcement officials revealed that one of the shooters involved in yesterday’s attack which left multiple people dead, had previously posted anti-semitic content online.

Officials did not reveal whether those posts involve general anti-semitic sentiments or if they were targeted specifically towards the ultra Orthodox Jewish community in Jersey City.

Jersey City, located in Hudson County, New Jersey, is home to nearly a quarter of a million people. Over the past few years, a few dozen Orthodox Jewish families from New York City moved into the Greenville neighborhood which was targeted in yesterday’s attack.

A 2017 NY Times article reported this development as a concern for the city as a whole. For example, the Times quoted someone who said that Hasidim offer “Brooklyn pricing” when seeking to buy local houses.

The Times then provided an accusatory quote by Mayor Steven Fulop who said, “”They [Hasidim] literally go door to door and can be very pushy trying to purchase someone’s house. It’s not the best way to endear yourself to the community, and there’s been a lot of pushback.”

Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC), said in a statement Wednesday that “I have a few concerns about Mayor Fulop’s comments.

First, I have yet to see evidence that this happens on a mass scale to warrant the mayor expressing it as an issue.

Secondly, even if some brokers do behave in a ‘pushy’ way, it’s unfair to paint an entire community with a broad brush over it.

Finally, in no way do I suggest that the mayor is bigoted. To the contrary, he has displayed terrific leadership over these dark twenty-four hours. I am sharing my concerns as a caution to elected officials to be careful with rhetoric municipal issues because generalizing claims on community then gets used by crazies on social media and some even take it to a deadly level.”