N.J. Issuing Training After Anti-Islamic Police Course

New Jersey officials will hand out new police training guidelines to all 21 county prosecutors after what they called a “not appropriate” course for a county police academy, in which a self-described former Muslim terrorist addressed a class called “Know Your Enemy.”

“The private training program that took place in Ocean County last week clearly was not appropriate training and is not the type of training we want our police officers attending,” said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for Acting Attorney General John Hoffman.

Walid Shoebat, a Palestinian-American, discussed his views on Islam during a counterterrorism seminar held Nov. 2 in Lakewood for Ocean County police officials. Shoebat told the officers they should actively watch Muslims in their communities and suggested they be suspicious of Muslims taking martial arts classes, which he said could be an indication that they’re training to become terrorists.

Sheriff Michael Mastronardy and a deputy state attorney general sat in on the class. The state took action after complaints by the New Jersey Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR has been accused of supporting terror groups such as Hamas and has opposed Shoebat’s talks throughout the country.

The sheriff said he received hundreds of emails supporting and opposing Shoebat’s appearance in the days leading up to the class, but he said he had no authority to cancel the event.

This article appeared in print on page 34 of the November 18th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.