On Sunday, hundreds gathered in the New Jersey township of Teaneck to protest an event where dozens of companies pitched real estate deals in Israel and the illegally-occupied West Bank.
Protesters marched over a mile from the Teaneck Armory to Congregation Keter Torah synagogue, where the real estate show was held. They waved Palestinian flags and chanted, “Free Palestine!”
“In a world where uncertainty looms and antisemitism shows its ugly face more boldly than ever, the decision to invest in a home in Israel is not just wise—it’s exhilarating!,” declared a post promoting the event. “Whether you’re eyeing a move through aliyah in the future, seeking a vacation spot, or aiming for a solid investment, it’s time to start planning. But where do you begin?”
The event, which hosted by the company My Home in Israel Real Estate, featured experts like Gidon Katz, who says banks predict a significant uptick in property values. “This bullish outlook is largely attributed to the expected end of the war..and a forthcoming reduction in interest rates, signaling a robust period for potential investors in the Israeli property market,” he explained.
The New Jersey chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) condemned the event. They called for a federal probe, as the sale of such houses could constitute illegal activity.
“Houses of worship should be sacred spaces, and it is deeply concerning to see anyone use a house of worship to allegedly flout international law by selling off stolen land,” said CAIR-NJ Communications Manager Dina Sayedahmed in a statement.
“The township has not received any complaints of either local ordinances or state law being broken and so it does not have the jurisdiction to interfere with this private event,” said Teaneck township manager Dean Kazinci in a statement last week.
Two weeks ago, Jewish activist and Teaneck resident Rich Siegel went viral after speaking out about the event at a Township Council meeting.
“If we allow this sale to go through, we are enabling a local synagogue to violate both domestic anti-discrimination laws and international law,” he explained. “As Jews, we don’t get to fly under the radar and break the law and hide it in the synagogue.”
“There’s a genocide going on right now. I don’t care who that offends,” he added. “More than 35,000 people have been killed. More than 13,000 children have been killed. People in this community are in deep mourning. People in this community are angry. I’m angry. What this real estate event is going to do is it’s going to fan the flames.”
Asked what he thought about Sunday protests, Siegel told Mondoweiss, “These real estate sales events serve as a pipeline by which American Jewish Zionist ideologues support illegal settlement activity. Having failed to convince the Teaneck town council to shut the Keter Torah event down, organizing a demonstration against it became necessary. It was a big success. Thousands showed up. We are having an impact.”
Such informational sessions are not uncommon, but they’ve faced growing backlash in recent weeks as Israel’s brutal attack on Gaza has continued. At one such recent event at a synagogue in Toronto, a man was arrested for allegedly firing a nail gun at Palestine protesters.
The real estate show is not the only event connected to Israel that’s caused a recent rift in the Teaneck community.
Back in November, 75 students at Teaneck High School held a walkout to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. The move was condemned by local pro-Israel organizations and lawmakers. This included Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who got the Department of Education to open a civil rights probe for discrimination at the school. After Teaneck High announced it was partnering with multiple Jewish and Muslim organizations, including CAIR, the Congress member attacked the school for aligning with the group.
“As Superintendent, you have a duty to protect Teaneck students of all backgrounds,” Gottheimer wrote in a letter to Teaneck Public Schools Superintendent Andre Spencer. “Inviting CAIR-NJ to your schools puts the safety of Jewish students at risk.”
My Home in Israel is holding two more real estate events in New York this week.
Let us not forget that using religion to relieve you of your cash is not a Jewish thing. It’s as American as apple pie.
Since the Biden administration and so many other administrations have publicly said that the building and expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank continually interferes in the possibility of a two state solution one would think the Biden administration would more closely examine these real estate companies efforts to sell off stolen Palestinian land etc in West Bank.
That federal Homeland Security funding/grants for the Keter Torah Synagogue would be cut off for defying federal stances and policy
Although we know standard rules that may apply to others does not apply to Israel or the I lobby, which should have to register under FARA.
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https://njjewishnews.timesofisrael.com/standing-for-shul-security/
“Houses of worship should be sacred spaces, and it is deeply concerning to see anyone use a house of worship to allegedly flout international law by selling off stolen land,”CAIR-NJ Dina Sayedahmed
If DOJ or State Dept. or IRS ever cared to do their job, they would revoke Keter Torah Synagogue’s non-profit status. As Rich Siegel said, “…What this real estate event is going to do is it’s going to fan the flames.”
THE HATE GENERATED IS THE POINT KETER TORAH WANTED TO MAKE. Brazen euphoric fundamentalist driving herds of hate back-n-forth from Israel to Teaneck from Israel to Lakewood from Israel to Atlanta. Yep,yep interest rates are goin down, be a great time for a holocaust-time share in the West Bank: A Real Zone Of Interest, no?
It’s somewhat bizarre that in this article Siegel is described as “Jewish activist” while a cursory glance *his own website* shows that he considers himself an “ex-Jew,” saying in relevant part “ I made the decision to stop calling myself a Jew, to simply leave the cult.” Elsewhere he praises David Irving and expresses his belief that the gas chambers didn’t exist.
Surely this website, which practices legitimate journalism, would tell the truth about Siegel’s (lack of) Jewish identity rather than insincerely helping him use the identity he has spurned as a cudgel against others?
Or did you just not bother to do a basic google search on the guy? Because that smacks to me of utter laziness and a lack of journalistic ethics.
Greed knows no limits. The mere fact that they are brazenly peddling land that does not belong to them, has no decency to act with sensitivity knowing that thousands of people have been killed on that land, and that they act like they are entitled to it, show just how despicable these greedy vultures are.
Why is the US government ignoring this? After all, this is against our policies, and the Biden administration has said they are against displacement, and the taking over of Gaza by the genocidal nation. New Jersey, do the right thing. How about banning these real estate sales by these vultures?