A video of a police officer in Paterson, New Jersey, wearing a Palestinian flag on his uniform was posted to social media. 

Officer Adeeb Iqnies, who has served with the Paterson Police Department for three years, appeared on social media, saying, “I’m a Palestinian who loves my country as well as Palestine. We want to participate in the government and in these jobs in the departments to make a name for ourselves.”

The interviewer asked Iqnies in Arabic why he was working as a police officer in “Bethlehem.” In the Muslim community, Bethlehem refers to any city with a majority Muslim population.

Paterson is the nation’s second-largest Muslim per capita, with 25,000 to 30,000 out of a total population of 160,000. Paterson enforces Islamic policies, such as closing schools on Muslim holidays, serving halal food in public schools, and broadcasting the Adhan (Muslim call to prayer) on loudspeakers throughout the city. Officials reportedly raised Palestinian flags on government buildings and promoted Paterson as a Palestinian-Islamic hub.

Iqnies estimated that there are around 15 Muslim officers, including Palestinians and Jordanians. “The police are loved and respected by the Arabs here because they are not a problem,” he said in the interview. “We advise those who come to us to join the police in general.”

Two weeks ago, Andre Sayegh, the mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, marked the beginning of the Muslim month of Ramadan with a Hilal lighting ceremony on February 28. He declared his city the “capital of Palestine” and “the fourth holiest [Muslim] city in the world.” The main street in the city was also renamed “Palestine Way,” and the city government actively promotes anti-Israel BDS legislation.

One of the sponsors of the event was the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC), is a mosque that has extensively featured radical ideas and supported fundraising for Hamas-linked organizations. One of its imams, Mohamed Hassaballa, has called for Muslims to “overtake disbelievers.” 

In early 2023, Mayor Sayegh signed a sister-city agreement with officials from Ramallah. In May,2024, eight months after the Oc. 7 massacre of Israelisd by Hamas, Paterson held a Nakba commemoration. Nakba (literally ‘catastrophe’) is how Palestinians refer to Israel repelling the Arab attacks in 1948 which led to the establishment of the State of Israel, thereby saving the Jewish state from annihilation.