The complaint, lodged September 29 in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleges that demonstrators used threats, force and intimidation to interfere with the West Orange–based congregation’s right to worship—including during a memorial ceremony for a deceased rabbi.
“No American should be harassed, targeted or discriminated against for peacefully practicing their religion.”
At stake is more than just one synagogue. If a court grants the requested injunctive relief, the decision would legally constrain the named defendants from harassing, obstructing or intimidating worshippers at synagogues across New Jersey, setting a new bar for how federal civil rights law can protect houses of worship. Such an injunction would, in turn, “ensure that congregants of the West Orange synagogue may attend religious services without harassment, intimidation or violence,” as the Justice Department put it in a news statement.
For three decades, the FACE Act has been deployed almost exclusively to protect patients and staff at abortion clinics from blockades, threats or violent interference. Here, the Justice Department is stretching its reach to safeguard religious exercise—a pivot that could reshape federal civil rights enforcement around faith-based harassment.
In fact, DOJ officials acknowledge this is the first known use of the statute to protect a place of worship.
“This Justice Department will vigorously enforce the right of every American to worship in peace and without fear,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon in announcing the filing. “These violent protesters meant their actions for evil, but we will use this case to bring forth good: the protection of all Americans’ religious liberty.”
Dhillon asserted at a news conference that the “practice of turning a blind eye to the attacks on houses of worship throughout the United States stops now.”
Attorney General Pamela Bondi added, “No American should be harassed, targeted or discriminated against for peacefully practicing their religion.”
The events at issue unfolded on November 13, 2024, outside Congregation Ohr Torah. Some demonstrators gathered nearby, carrying signs and blasting plastic horns known as vuvuzelas, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges that protesters used vuvuzelas as “weapons to drown out the religious service, making it impossible for worshipers to hear the memorial service and Torah sermon.”
Among the named defendants is Altaf Sharif, accused of charging at counter-protester Moshe Glick before being pepper-sprayed by another, David Silberberg. According to the complaint, Sharif then turned on Silberberg, placing him in a chokehold.
Glick responded to the DOJ suit by saying it demonstrates “the real violations were committed by those who intimidated, blocked and attacked a member of the community in front of a synagogue.”
Many faith communities, including the Church of Scientology, have experienced harassment or disruption outside their places of worship.
The Justice Department’s filing seeks one primary remedy: a permanent injunction barring the named defendants from using force, threats or obstruction at houses of worship in New Jersey. If granted, it would ensure congregants at Ohr Torah—as well as across the state—can gather for religious services without harassment, intimidation or violence.
That request rests on the contours of the FACE Act itself—a statute that both outlaws intimidation and preserves space for lawful protest. The measure prohibits the use of force, threats of force or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising rights to seek or provide services or to worship. But it also explicitly protects free speech in the form of “peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration,” meaning enforcement cannot criminalize lawful protest.
Defendants in the case may argue that their actions fell within the bounds of protected protest and that the Justice Department is overreaching. The line between robust speech and actionable intimidation is often legally disputed. As The New York Times noted, the events in the case have been “hotly contested since it took place, and videos and photos from the scene do not make clear exactly how the violence began.”
The DOJ action comes amid a backdrop of alarming increases in antisemitic incidents in the US. In 2024, the Anti-Defamation League documented 9,354 cases of harassment, assault or vandalism—a 5 percent increase over the prior year and the highest on record. In New Jersey alone, the ADL recorded 719 antisemitic incidents during 2024—evidence of intensifying hostility toward Jewish communities.
Given that harassment and the targeted protesting of religious minorities isn’t limited to Jewish institutions, the case has broader resonance. Many faith communities, including the Church of Scientology, have experienced harassment or disruption outside their places of worship. In that sense, this DOJ initiative may serve as an important recognition that threats to religious practice must be checked—not just for one faith, but for all.
In the months ahead, the court will consider motions to dismiss, likely contested over standing, scope and constitutional defenses. If the injunction is granted, it could become a template for federal protection of worship sites across the country.
Meanwhile, DOJ officials have indicated that they may expand the case to include additional defendants or other incidents—a sign that the federal response is still evolving.
A year ago, the congregants of Ohr Torah might never have imagined that a law written to shield abortion clinics would one day serve as their bulwark against violent protest. Now, with the Justice Department asking a federal court for a lasting injunction, the question is whether that protection will extend beyond West Orange—setting a precedent for houses of worship across the country, from synagogues to mosques to Churches of Scientology—where the simple act of gathering in peace to practice one’s faith is the essence of religious freedom itself.
