The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against pro-Palestinian protesters who demonstrated at a New Jersey synagogue last year, citing a federal law originally designed to protect abortion clinics.
The complaint, filed by the U.S. Justice Department on Monday, appears to mark the first time that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which was enacted in 1994 to protect abortion clinics from violent protests, has been applied to protesters at a house of worship.
“No American should be harassed, targeted, or discriminated against for peacefully practicing their religion,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement Monday. “Today’s lawsuit underscores this Department of Justice’s commitment to defending Jewish Americans — and all Americans of faith — from those who would threaten their right to worship.”
While the Trump administration ordered in January that prosecutors only invoke the FACE Act under “extraordinary circumstances,” the federal government’s latest application of the law uses a section of it that prohibits the use of physical force or intimidation to prevent people from exercising their religious freedom at a place of religious worship.
The lawsuit alleges that two pro-Palestinian groups and some demonstrators engaged in “threats of force, intimidation, and violent conduct” against the congregants of Congregation Ohr Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, in November.
The protest was organized to counter an event to promote the sale of property in Israel and the West Bank being held at the synagogue, which also was hosting a memorial event for a rabbi, according to the 21-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Protests at synagogues hosting Israeli events have not been uncommon in recent years. In Teaneck, New Jersey, in March 2024, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated against an Israeli real estate fair at Congregation Keter Torah. A month later, protesters also came to picket a fundraiser for the Israeli nonprofit ZAKA at Congregation Bnai Yeshurun in Teaneck.
During the November protest, several congregants and protesters became involved in a physical confrontation, and while two two pro-Israel counterprotesters were charged with aggravated assault and other offenses against the pro-Palestinian demonstrators, those charges were not cited in the federal government’s complaint.
The lawsuit asks the court to fine the protesters over $30,000 for their first violation of the FACE Act, and over $50,000 for each subsequent violation.
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