SWC Outraged by Anti-Semitic Postings on the Facebook Page of Edison City Council President Joyce Ship-Freeman

May 5, 2020

Statement by Simon Wiesenthal Center(SWC) by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action and Michael Cohen, Eastern Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is outraged by anti-Semitic postings on the Facebook page of Edison City Council President Joyce Ship-Freeman.

Whatever the circumstances of how they got on her page, why has it taken her one month to remove the incendiary tropes about Jews and Israel.

In addition, we were also disturbed by the re-posting of a message calling on African Americans “not to eat Chinese food anymore”, with a backdrop of skulls.  

Jews and Asian Americans are well aware of the impact of negative stereotyping. It should have no place in the lexicon of any American politician. As we struggle to defeat the Coronavirus, no one in a position of responsibility in American life should be validating any form of hate – especially history’s oldest virus – anti-Semitism.

We urge City Council President Ship-Freeman to prove to all her constituents that she is part of the solution, not the problem. A clear public apology would be a good place to start.

For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department at pressinquiries@wiesenthal.com, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed. 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).