Khaberni - The U.S. Department of Justice has initiated legal proceedings against pro-Palestinian organizations and protesters accused of intimidating attendees at a Jewish synagogue in New Jersey, employing a U.S. law generally applied to those obstructing access to abortion clinics.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in a federal court in New Jersey, states that a protest organized in November at an event held at a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, described as a religious service and an Israeli real estate exhibition, escalated to violence.
According to the case details, the demonstrators physically attacked some Jewish attendees and chanted while using vuvuzelas, plastic horns sometimes used by soccer fans, to disrupt the event.
The case was filed under the "Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act," or the "FACE Act," a law enacted in 1994 that prohibits the use of force and physical obstruction to interfere with reproductive health centers or places of worship.
The civil suit in New Jersey names the Party for Socialism and Liberation in New Jersey and Muslims for Palestine in New Jersey as defendants.
The suit seeks a court order to prevent these two groups from using force or physical obstruction to interfere with worshippers at any place of worship in New Jersey.
Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, stated that the department has filed several lawsuits against protesters who obstructed abortion clinics, but this case appears to be the first time the law has been used to allege interference with religious worship.
Dhillon, who was nominated by President Donald Trump for this position, told reporters at a press conference that "turning a blind eye to these attacks on places of worship across the United States stops now."
The Trump administration took strict measures against protests in the country regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza and cut funding to universities while seeking to deport some pro-Palestinian activists, citing anti-Semitism.
Under Trump's tenure, the Department of Justice reduced the use of the FACE Act in abortion-related cases, stating that previous criminal prosecutions represented a politically inappropriate use of law enforcement.
Dhillon stated that these restrictions do not apply to cases involving places of worship.
