Statement to Princeton Town Council
400 Witherspoon St
Princeton, New Jersey
April 27, 2026

I’ve twice previously mentioned the Princeton Police Department’s decision to investigate anti-Israel graffiti as bias intimidation, mostly while discussing other things. In this comment, I want to focus specifically on the bias intimidation issue.

As you know, the issue arises from graffiti discovered in various places around town last August. The Princeton Jewish Center brought the issue to the attention of the Council, and the Police Department decided to investigate the graffiti as bias intimidation. Given the Council’s positive response to the Jewish Center’s input on the matter, I think it’s fair to conclude that the Council accepts the Police Department’s approach.

Several aspects of this approach are worth flagging. Because there’s no suspect in this case, there’s no evidence of intent. Because there’s no evidence of intent, any suggestion that bias intimidation is involved is an inference made from the content of the statements as such. 

Graffiti at Princeton Junction Rail Station

Note first of all that no one knows which statements are the relevant ones. It’s a bit of a guessing game. 

Second, no matter how we answer that question, we don’t know how the police got from the content of any statement to the determination that bias intimidation was involved. That’s another guessing game.

Third: we have no idea whether the statements, expressed in a form other than vandalism, would be treated as crimes. If a person asserts one, is the assertion arrest-worthy? That’s a third guessing game.

Well, I’ve asserted two of them in print, and I’m prepared to assert the other two for the record right now. On July 4, 2025, I wrote a blog post called “Death to the IDF,” where I asserted that statement and defended it. On January 24, 2026, I wrote a post saying “Localize the Intifada,” which if anything should be worse than globalizing it, since I propose to enact an intifada right here. The other statements were “Free Gaza,” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” So, for the record: “Free Gaza” and “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.”

Graffiti in Hebron

Now what? You’re going to arrest me? Because if you can read the bias intimidation off the sheer statement of those claims, minus any indication of intent or further context, a crime has been committed right in front of you. If so, you should pick up your phones, dial 911, call the police, and have me arrested. If you hesitate to do so, maybe that hesitation should be conveyed to your police chief. How is it that he’s gone ahead where you’ve hesitated? Why hesitate if you know he’s gone ahead? 

You’ve previously said that you have an exemplary track record on free speech, which I’ve disputed. A track record that leaves you high and dry but leads me to a jail cell is not one I’m going to applaud. At a basic level, the rule of law only works if people know what the law enjoins or prohibits. And I don’t. Am I criminal, or just a loudmouth? Am I engaged in hate speech or just provocation? Without answers to those questions, we lack the rule of law in Princeton. Its absence should discomfit us at least as much as graffiti in a park.