A showcase for Israeli real estate creates resentment in a diverse city

Tara Oliver, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey attorney general’s office, declined to discuss the Teaneck event, citing “potential or pending enforcement matters.” But she said the state anti-discrimination law “generally prohibits entities from discriminating on the basis of race, religion, national origin, ancestry and other protected characteristics in housing,” although some exceptions are allowed for religious entities. The agency will have to determine how and whether the law applies to land sales in Israel and the West Bank, where restrictive covenants are legal.

Teaneck, which once touted itself as an example of religious harmony, with a Muslim mayor and an Orthodox Jewish deputy mayor, has become a seat of conflict over Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. The borough, with a population of nearly 42,000, has the second-largest Jewish community in the state, accounting for more than a third of residents, and at least 15 synagogues. But it is also a diverse municipality, and since the start of the war, according to residents, the municipality has become increasingly polarized.

“A lot of this stuff is raw on both sides,” said Rayed Hassan, who runs the Al-Ummah Cultural Center, a mosque and non-sectarian gym about four miles from the Keter Torah synagogue. ‘Eventually something has to break. And it’s not just the Palestinians who are involved. You have African Americans, you have the Hispanic community involved. It’s just brewing.” He recently increased security at the center in response to threats.

In November, when about 75 students from Teaneck High School a walk away because of U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza, it received a scathing condemnation from local Jewish leaders and elected officials, who accused the school of fomenting anti-Semitism. School officials are now faced with one federal discrimination investigation about their handling of the strike.

Since then, tensions — and fears — have only escalated, said Hillary Goldberg, a city council member who has been an outspoken supporter of Israel and a critic of the strike. “I have been threatened; I had a box truck with my picture on it and the words “liar liar” drive through town; my house was broken into; I have received anti-Semitic messages,” she said in an email. She added, “I have never felt more afraid to be Jewish than I do now,” she said.