Controversy about a Muslim police chaplain’s seemingly antisemitic social media posts, which have sparked many hours of heated public comments at community meetings, has resulted in Montclair ending the chaplaincy program.

The debate involving Imam Kevin Dawud Amin, a religious leader at Masjid al Wadud in Montclair and a volunteer police chaplain, stirred significant disagreement in the township, with many Jewish residents believing his comments played into classic antisemitic tropes. Those on the other side said most were simply criticizing Israeli policy.

The issue first surfaced in September 2024 when Amin said at a council meeting that “certain groups have more pull than others in the media,” resulting in a complaint being filed with the township civil rights commission (CRC). Some of Amin’s antisemitic social media posts were anti-Zionist and the commission found them to be antisemitic, although Amin has denied that accusation.

The posts included messages that alarmed many members of the local Jewish community. One referred to Jews in New York and New Jersey as “settlers.” Another stated, “The Holocaust didn’t happen the way Hollywood says it did,” and another stated, “Habibi Come to Amsterdam” next to a laughing emoji, in a reference to violent attacks there on Israelis after a soccer match. “Habibi” is a term of endearment in Arabic, and Amin has said the post was directed at those protesting the violence. He claimed his posts were criticizing Israeli actions in Gaza and were not antisemitic.

However, in addition to the heated public debates at recent council and CRC meetings, which also drew Jewish residents from surrounding communities, the posts drew the attention of Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Dist. 11).

“I denounce the antisemitic statements made on social media by the outgoing police chaplain in Montclair,” she posted on X. “Montclair is a town that prides itself on inclusivity and diversity—antisemitic, homophobic, or racist comments have no place in our community.”

The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey also labeled the posts as “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

Township Manager Michael LaPolla said at a December 17 council meeting viewed on the township’s website that he made the decision to end the chaplaincy program in consultation with Police Chief Todd Conforti and others in the department.

He said local officials and the police departments can’t be charged with monitoring the chaplains’ social media to determine what crosses the line into racism, antisemitism or other potentially offensive matters.

Lapolla noted after about four hours of public comments, many devoted to the chaplaincy situation, that with “half the room yelling at us” on behalf of imam while others took the opposing position, the notion that the situation could be resolved “by figuring out what’s offensive to the other group” was unrealistic.

“You can’t do that because the minute you do, you’re insulting people even more,” Lapolla said. While he acknowledged that he found some of the posts antisemitic, as the municipality tried to find a solution it became apparent that for this and other controversial situations in the future the current protocol wouldn’t work.

“Who’s going to decide what is offensive to what group?” he asked. “In this room there are 20 different opinions tonight, so you want the manager to decide?”

Lapolla questioned whether the community wanted a government employee monitoring the social media accounts of clergy “to decide if they’re offending a standard that’s not defined.”

He said the chaplaincy issue may be revisited again after things calm down but explained, “I did not see any way, the way it’s currently working and constituted that we can move forward … I am very comfortable with my decision. It wasn’t easy and you can laugh and mock but somebody had to make this decision.”

During the same meeting residents voiced divergent views, some receiving applause and others jeers. There were those who spoke of the “dangerous” use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and voiced concerns about the First Amendment rights of Amin being violated.

Others said remarks criticizing Israeli “genocide” were not antisemitic. A woman draped in a keffiyeh who said she represented the 11th for Palestine, which describes itself on its Instagram account as a group of constituents from the 11th District of various backgrounds who want Sherrill to call for a ceasefire, said, “Genocide is not a Jewish value,” and accused major media of disproportionately emphasizing Israeli deaths over Palestinian ones and of “lopsided” reporting of antisemitism.

Amin defended himself and questioned why the bias training he said was supported by the police to guard against antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bias was never approved. “We should make that happen,” he said. “We also want to be careful that every group is protected, that every group has the ability to say what they want to say. Not everyone is going to be happy with what you have to say.”

Jewish residents said the issue was not about free speech or the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

Linda Scherzer, Jewish Community Relations Council director for the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, said she came “to point out the posts, which express hate against the Jewish people,” and said that Amin’s posts in most work environments would have resulted in immediate termination.

“What the imam might also like to know is that many of the images and words that he’s reposting were actually written, many of them by white supremacists, racists who hate people of color as much as they hate me,” she said. “These statements and others should be denounced and repudiated loudly and immediately, just as we would expect the condemnation of homophobic or racist comments against any other minority.”

A woman from Livingston talked about “the rampant Jew hatred that is unfolding in our area. It’s not just Montclair, but all the towns around here. It’s been traumatic to say the least. Today instead of calling us Jews they’re calling us Zionists, but it’s the same Jew-hating antisemitism wrapped in different wording.”

She received loud applause when she said, “You have a duty to protect your Jewish citizens.”

Rabbi Marc Katz of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, whose Reform synagogue was the victim of an attempted firebombing two years ago, said like himself, most of his 640-family synagogue lives in Montclair. He said the imam has been an ally, especially after the firebombing, and he defended Amin’s right to advocate for Palestine.

“But when one’s advocacy crosses a line into antisemitism by sharing posts that engage in age-old tropes that call Jews devils, that say that Jews run the media, promote Holocaust denial or make light of attacks on Jews as did a recent post inviting people to Amsterdam after the attacks on Jews there,” said Rabbi Katz, “the posts stop being about the issue at hand, and one cannot defend them as freedom of religion. 

“This is a scary time for Jews worldwide and locally. The Jewish community came to the town asking for help, looking for action that will show us that these types of messages will not be tolerated.”

Rabbi Katz said he personally would have welcomed firmer action, whether that was bias training, establishing media policies, probation or even termination protocols. Instead a “beloved” program was ended “and the Jewish community was sent a message that had we not spoken out, had we not come to the town for help, had we not made trouble, that things would have remained peaceful and the chaplaincy would have remained intact.”

Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.

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