U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) spoke this morning at the opening of an interfaith roundtable discussion hosted by Governor Murphy at Temple Beth El in the wake of this week’s rampage in Jersey City which took the lives of four individuals, including a Jersey City police officer, and is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism fueled by anti-Semitic and anti-law enforcement beliefs.

“Hatred very often rears its face in many different ways. In this case, it was a case of anti-Semitism and anti-police bias, but in other cases, it could be against the Muslim, the Hindu or a Coptic Christian. It could be just about anyone,” said Sen. Menendez. “Today we join to send a societal message that this type of bigotry, this type of anti-Semitism and this type of prejudice is not acceptable in our society.”

Speaking about the fatal victims of this tragedy, Mindy Ferencz, Moshe Deutsch, Douglas Miguel Rodriguez and Detective Joseph Seals, the Senator said “words cannot express our sorrow for the families of those lost. Nor can we truly express our sadness for the family of Detective Joseph Seals who not only spent his life but gave his life defending his community and his country.”