JACKSON — It was louder than the bullhorns - both of them. It was louder than the sound of nearly 100 protesters and counter-protesters, screaming into the ether as much as they were at each other.
All of it was drowned out by the unmistakable screech of an airplane, flying so low that its tail number - not to mention the huge Star of David and "Israel" written under its wings - was clearly visible.
As it buzzed over the group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, calling for a cease-fire and for the U.S. to withdraw military aid from Israel, it was clear to Red Bank resident Georgina Shanley.
"That's such intimidation," Shanley said to a reporter. "You have to write about that."
This was the scene at Veterans Memorial Park on Sunday afternoon, as two groups of protesters - one supporting Palestine, one supporting Israel - tried to drown each other out one way or the other.
There were Palestinian flags and Israeli flags - including one flying from a staff alongside a "blue line" flag supporting police officers and a Trump 2024 flag, with the slogan "save America."
There were dueling chants, with Palestinian supporters chanting "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," while their counterparts chanted "bring them home" and "USA."
A group of more than 20 Jackson police officers kept the situation mostly controlled, forming a line between the two groups. But it did grow tense: At one point, the entire group of pro-Israel counterprotesters simply strolled around the officers, walking up to just a few feet behind organizers leading the chants of Palestinian support. Later, two teenagers seemingly snuck into the pro-Palestinian group and unfurled an Israeli flag while standing on a bench.
"Get the f--- out of here," one person shouted, before police officers escorted the teenagers back on the other side of the wall of police.
Throughout, smaller shouting matches broke out between the two groups, slowly creeping in on each other and pointing fingers. One person would ask "do you support Hamas," the militant Palestinan Islamic organization operating in opposition to Israel. "Do you support genocide," was the retort.
But the situation never escalated.
Police only briefly detained one person, a pro-Palestinian protester, who walked in circles around the group while motioning toward their waistband, police Lt. Fred Meabe said. The person, who ignored questions by a reporter after the incident, was held for no more than 30 seconds while police frisked them before they were released.
"I've been to a lot of protests, from (Washington) D.C. to Philly and other parts of New Jersey, and I've never seen anything like this," said Mount Laurel resident Jessica Dunlap. "I've never seen this many counterprotesters, the ratio of cops and counterprotesters to pro-Palestinian (supporters).
"I'd never seen a Proud Boy in real life until today," she said, referring to the far-right extremist group. One man with a Proud Boys T-shirt walked among the counterprotesters waving an American flag during the event.
Protests calling for a permanent cease-fire have been regular occurrences in New Jersey since the latest Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, most recently at college campuses, where students have camped out on lawns for days and weeks at a time.
Organizers of the cease-fire protest specifically criticized the township for allegedly intimidating them from scheduling the event in the first place. Last week, Mayor Michael Reina released a statement to several hyperlocal websites stating that the township would be "vigilant" after a flyer for the event circulated online.
Police also visited the home of one organizer, encouraging her to seek a township permit at a park, as first reported by Palestinian activist blog Fight Back Better. (The protest was moved to Veterans Memorial Park at the last minute; until Saturday, it had been planned for the township public works building.)
Reina told the Asbury Park Press last week that the township wouldn't impede anyone from exercising their First Amendment rights.
Like much of northern Ocean County, Jackson is home to a substantial Orthodox Jewish population, with community leaders estimating that nearly 3,000 Orthodox families live in town. For the better part of a decade, cultures have clashed in Jackson as Orthodox families moved out of Lakewood - home of one of the largest Orthodox enclaves in the world and the largest yeshiva in the country - seeking a quieter, more rural quality of life.
Longtime residents began pushing back - first, telling their neighbors to "stay strong" and not sell their homes even as realtors, often representing Orthodox Jewish families, made huge, above-market offers. Later, they demanded their elected officials stop the "overdevelopment" - which quickly became a coded phrase referring almost exclusively to the types of developments meant to cater to the Orthodox community.
Over the last decade, public meetings and online discourse over virtually any plan for a private religious school, synagogue or other development have devolved into blatantly antisemitic rhetoric. At a December council meeting, residents accused Orthodox Jews of a "hostile takeover" of the town, a "cultural genocide" and, at one point, accused the sole Orthodox Jew on the council of "representing your people."
Ironically, those residents were calling on council members to reject a settlement agreement - one of many - to wrap up a case initiated, in part, because the plaintiffs accused officials of caving to antisemitic rhetoric.
That was just one public meeting. On social media, anti-Orthodox sentiment is perhaps more commonplace than complaints about property taxes. A few years ago, a former zoning board member - who voted against plans for a Jewish high school - referred to the town's Orthodox community as "co*ckroaches."
While the dueling protests were certainly vitriolic, they never reached that level of blatant vitriol.
Occasionally, pro-Palestinian demonstrators criticized Zionism, the effort of Jews to retain their biblical homeland in Israel. Their counterparts, many of whom wore yarmulkes and garb common with the Orthodox community, likened the Palestinian cries of "Palestine will be free" as unabashed support for Hamas.
At times, Israel supporters tried to convince the Palestine supporters that they wouldn't be welcome in Gaza.
"They were just like you," said one pro-Israel counterprotester, referring to victims and hostages of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack at a concert in Israel.
After two hours, the group of pro-Palestine protesters disbanded and walked to their cars - past the group of counterprotesters who jeered them home.
One Palestinian organizer, who declined to be interviewed, encouraged her group to simply ignore the back-and-forth and keep a cool head.
She shouted: "Don't feed the trolls!"
Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him atmdavis@gannettnj.comor@byMikeDavison Twitter.
