Rahway Council Meeting Reopens Tensions From World Cup Antisemitism Incident
A confrontation over antisemitic social media posts at Rahway's World Cup watch party resurfaced at a City Council meeting, with the mayor, council president, and a council candidate offering competing accounts.
Rahway City Council President Jeffrey Brooks, center, speaking during a city council meeting in August. (Source: City of Rahway via YouTube)
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Chris Howell | August 5, 2026
How should a candidate for public office behave if they are the target of hate speech? Can the candidate shout back? What if the hate speech is online? Can the candidate confront the alleged culprit if they cross paths in person?
Those questions were at the center of a heated debate during a Rahway City Council meeting, where officials accused a council candidate of sparking a dangerous situation that led to an arrest. But that candidate, Alan Levy, says he was confronting hate speech and, in the process, became the target of an antisemitic verbal attack himself. Levy said he was further offended by Mayor Raymond Giacobbe and Council President Jeffrey Brooks, who criticized Levy in their first responses to the incident rather than defend him as a neighbor targeted by hatred.
The initial confrontation occurred at the city’s final World Cup watch party on East Cherry Street on July 19. During the event, Levy, who is Jewish, confronted the owner of a nearby bookstore over what he described as years of antisemitic and Holocaust denial content posted on social media.
Mayor Giacobbe said he was present at the start of the confrontation. He and his wife were finishing a conversation with the bookstore owner at the event when Levy approached, the mayor said.
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“What I witnessed was Mr. Levy aggressively berating this woman in a manner that was loud and confrontational,” the mayor told the council. “My wife became frightened and went to find a police officer.”
Levy gave a different account of how the confrontation escalated. He said a man he didn’t know approached him during the exchange.
“A man approached me and yelled in my face, ‘F*ck the Jews,’ and declared, ‘I am a proud Jew hater,’” Levy said. “Police quickly intervened at that point, and that’s when I pulled out my phone and began recording.”
In one video Levy posted to Facebook, a man appears to say, “I’m a proud Jew hater” to Levy, who is yelling back from behind the camera. Another video shows a separate man being taken away in handcuffs. Officials later said the man had a knife.
In a third video, Levy can be heard yelling questions towards the bookstore owner. A police officer then asks Levy to stop and put away his camera, warning him that his conduct is bordering on harassment.
In a fourth video, Levy and the mayor debate who is responsible for the entire incident. “That all happened because of what you started,” the mayor says in the video. “It has nothing to do with you being Jewish.”
Lisa Vandever, who is married to Levy, told the council the mayor’s framing had it backwards.
“The reporting of this from our mayor made it sound like this was all Alan’s doing when he was the victim of the attack,” Vandever said. She also said that while she was not at the event, she stood by her husband’s account.
Levy argued the same standard the mayor invoked against him should apply more broadly.
“We are told anti-Semitism is wrong, but we’re criticized for how we responded to it,” he said. “That pattern is clear. There will never be a correct way to combat anti-Semitism.”
The mayor rejected the idea that he’d singled Levy out unfairly.
“What makes this especially concerning is that Mr. Levy has repeatedly lectured me and members of City Council about the high standard in which elected officials are held, and has argued that public officials must keep their emotions in check regardless of what is said to them or how they are treated,” the mayor said. “And I agree.”
Brooks also addressed the incident directly after reposting the mayor’s initial Facebook statement criticizing Levy. Brooks, who is black, drew a comparison to his own experience.
“Being offended or angered by something someone posts on social media does not justify escalating a confrontation, particularly when that confrontation created an unsafe situation for Mr. Levy and the people around him,” Brooks said.
Brooks went on to reference what he said was anti-Black content shared in the Rahway Community Voice group on Facebook. Levy and Vandever are currently suing the group’s moderators over their removal from it. Levy threw up his hands at the reference. Brooks then asked Levy directly whether he held any prejudice against Black people. Levy responded immediately, telling Brooks to address the source of that content directly rather than him.
“Are you asking me the question? Why don’t you have them removed?” Levy said.
Tensions nearly boiled over again later in the meeting, with the mayor calling Vandever childish.
The Central Jerseyan sought comment from the mayor and his staff following the meeting. They had already left before those questions could be asked.
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.