New Jersey Republicans push to ban naming buildings, streets after ‘terrorists’

⬛ NJ lawmakers quietly introduce bill
⬛ Paterson has Palestine Way
⬛ City has large Muslim population

All 15 Republicans in the New Jersey Senate have signed onto a bill recently introduced without any fanfare in Trenton, which would ban naming local property after terror groups.

Sens. Robert Singer, R-Ocean, and Holly Schepisi, R-Bergen, are the prime sponsors of Bill S4331 introduced on May 12.

What would this proposed law do?

It prohibits any local government from naming its property after foreign terrorist organizations.

If it were to be passed and signed into law, it would allow 30 days to “remove or dismantle all signs, street pole banners, plaques, and any other displays of support for, or the naming of property after, a foreign terrorist organization, designated by the federal government.”

Continued violation of the proposed bill would put a town or other local board at risk of losing state aid.

Who is considered a terrorist in New Jersey?

So far this year, 11 groups have been added to the U.S. list of foreign terror organizations, most of them drug cartels and two of them violent gangs in Haiti.

In New Jersey, there have been no namings of buildings or streets for such groups.

Singer mentioned Paterson when Politico asked about the bill, telling the publication that a street had been renamed “something inappropriate.”

A request sent to Senate Republicans by New Jersey 101.5 for background on the bill was not immediately answered on Wednesday.

Read More: NJ mayor calls Paterson the U.S. 'capital of Palestine'

Palestine Way in Paterson gets national attention

One renamed street that has gotten a lot of conservative attention is in Paterson, which three years ago, renamed a stretch of Main Street as Palestine Way.

In March, while kicking off the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh called Paterson “the capital of Palestine in the United States of America.”

Paterson’s Muslim population is at least 30,000, according to older estimates, as the state's third-largest city with roughly 156,000 residents.

That set off a firestorm of internet reaction, particularly among supporters of Israel in the continued conflict with Hamas after the group’s deadly terror attack in October 2023.

Hamas has been on the federal list of foreign terror organizations since 1997.

Sayegh told Politico that "Palestine is not a dirty word."

This month, another Paterson street was renamed in honor of the family that owns Brothers Produce of NJ, a grocery store serving the community for over 35 years.

Brothers Produce was founded in 1987 by Halema and Mohammad Gaber.

New street signs for the intersection of Knickerbocker and East Railway Avenues read “Halema Salamah Gaber” and “Mohammad Odeh Gaber,” respectively.

Each new street sign includes Palestinian flags.

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