16 | OCTOBER 24 • 2024 J
N

A

fter listening to scores of 
speakers’ public comments, 
the Bloomfield Township 
Board of Trustees on Oct. 14 voted to 
censure fellow trustee Stephanie Fakih. 
 
 On Friday, Oct. 4, 
Fakih had made a post 
on social media labeling 
Israeli and American 
Zionists as “scum of the 
earth” following an IDF 
bombing in Lebanon of an 
underground Hezbollah 
bunker located in a heavily 
populated neighborhood in Beirut. 
The township board’s censure 
resolution concluded that Fakih’s 
posts, including one asking supporters 
from outside the township to come to 
the meeting to “Stand with Stephanie 
against Zionism,
” were in violation 
with the board’s principles and code of 
conduct. 

The board’s resolution stated: “Fakih 
made additional videos and posts 
online that called for supporters to 
show up [to the meeting] in an attempt 
to disrupt and delay the board’s official 
proceedings and cause the township to 
expend resources and providing [extra] 
law enforcement personnel to keep 
residents and the board safe.”
To have their voices heard, many in 
the Jewish community arrived several 
hours early to reserve their spot in 
a room designed to hold about 100. 
Attendees could not bring in handbags 
and had to pass through metal 
detectors. Over 100 others waited 
outside the building on Telegraph 
and listened to the meeting through 
a loudspeaker system the township 
provided. A few commentators late in 
the evening offered support for Fakih, 
but none carried in signs. 
Township Supervisor Dani Walsh 

said Fakih’s hateful remarks had put 
the entire board and township in 
danger and wasted vital resources that 
should have otherwise been devoted 
to the business of running a municipal 
government. 
“The entire workings of Bloomfield 
Township, all but the most basic of 
emergency and vital services, were 
shut down, in my perspective,
” Walsh 
said. 
“Every evening was focused on this 
meeting. All weekends were focused 
on this meeting. Thousands of dollars 
in extra security and law enforcement 
were spent. Never in eight years have 
we had to plan for a board meeting 
that did not allow for handbags or 
purses and required metal detectors. 
That was because of calls to action 
from one of our board members 
that escalated outside our borders of 
Bloomfield Township.
” 

STEPHANIE FAKIH SPEAKS
Fakih, a criminal defense attorney, was 
elected to the Bloomfield Township 
Board of Trustees in November 2020. 
She also serves on the Bloomfield 
Township Zoning Board of Appeals. 
Her term as trustee ends on Nov. 20, 
and she is not seeking reelection. She 
has a law practice, Rights First Law, 
PC. She also serves on committees for 
the Cranbrook Center for Collections 
and Research. 
In a rambling, unapologetic 
statement before the lengthy public 
comment section, Fakih said that the 
many in the room and the people who 
waited outside to get in had showed 
up because of distortions about her in 
the media, blamed this on her fellow 
board members and cautioned the 
public about the dangers of labeling 
people. 
“For the last week, members of 
this board have given statements 
and comments to the press, putting 
words in my mouth and labeling me 
as antisemitic,
” Fakih said. “I caution 
us as a society against labeling people 

More than 200 people came to the Bloomfield Township Board 
of Trustees to confront Stephanie Fakih’s antisemitic comments.

The Jewish Community Speaks Out

Stephanie 
Fakih

STORY AND PHOTOS BY STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

People in the 
meeting room had 
to pass through 
metal detectors.

