John Ducey Image by twitter

When a New Jersey resident complained on Twitter about Jewish “invaders” in her town, the mayor responded with advice to “call the police,” drawing concern from other constituents, Huffpost reported.

On Tuesday, user @simms10471 tweeted at John Ducey, mayor of Brick Township, New Jersey, with an anti-Semitic question: “can we please do something about our parks and beaches. They are being invaded by the hasidic and orthodox jews and being ruined. Our tax paying residents are being forced our while politicians sit and do nothing [sic].”

“Just call police with any problems and they will send them out,” Ducey replied.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Ducey denies that his response was anti-Semitic — he said he answered neutrally in order to ignore the intolerant accusation. He also said he answers every tweet addressed to him.

However, some users were still taken aback by the mayor’s response.

“I did not want to acknowledge the bigotry thereby giving the commenter the power he was seeking,” Ducey tweeted to one critic. “I just tried to diffuse things and focus his anger at me. … I’ve done pretty well for six years but this is a learning experience.”

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount