As you drive down Pleasant Valley Way at the intersection of Route 280, there is a huge Welcome to West Orange sign, and just below that is the claim that “hate has no home here.”
That might be true … unless it is hate for Jews. In that case hate can be blatantly demonstrated in town council and human rights meetings, in the schools, and now with signs being put on lawns. This sign, which was put up in the Pleasantdale section, in which many of the Jewish residents in West Orange reside, is nothing more than pure Jew-hatred.
There are those who claim that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. Let’s be clear. It is.
Zionism means the belief that Jews have a right to self-determination in their ancient homeland. Full stop.
Anti-Zionism means you do not believe Jews have a right to self-determination in their homeland, and since the land of Israel cannot be extricated from the religious practice of Judaism, being an anti-Zionist means being an antisemite.
This sign broadcasts that this person hates Jews so much that they are willing to believe out of hand, likely from one-minute TikTok videos and reels that come onto their social media, all these false claims they wrote on their sign. Further, they feel confident there will be no repercussions of their action. After all, it is just antisemitism by another name and that has now become acceptable.
If this person bothered to do a Google search they would have learned the true history of the creation of modern-day Israel—hint: it was not an outgrowth of the Holocaust—and why Israel has a right to exist.
They would understand what the word “apartheid” means and that Arabs have full rights in Israel and more than Arabs in surrounding Arab countries have. (Israeli Arabs have full citizenship, hold leadership positions in government, on the Supreme Court, in universities, in hospitals, in start-up companies for which Israel is famous. They even join the Israeli army and are dying and remain hostage in Gaza.)
They would learn the meaning of the word “genocide” and that the Palestinian population has grown from 1.5 million in 1950 to 5.5 million in 2024. They would know that Israel left Gaza 100% in 2005 in what they hoped would be a first step towards peace, and the Gazans elected Hamas, who have been abusing Gaza’s citizens and trying to destroy Israel ever since.
Antisemitism has risen by 360% since October 7. If this town really wants to stand by its mantra of “hate has no home here,” signs like this would have no place in our community. Our community would be a place of mutual respect and dialogue, where our children can have moral role models.
