Ocean Grove beach on a Sunday morning this past summer 2023. This photo was published with a biased report by an American reporter for Haaretz, a liberal newspaper in Israel on Sept 24, 2023. Is someone trying to stir up international interest and condemnation for the Grove?*
Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ, USA. Summer 2023.
The group in the photo tries for irony as they call themselves “Sunday Morning Swim Club.” But we know that these geniuses forced their way onto the OG beach each Sunday morning, disrespecting the rules of the Camp Meeting Association.
They seem proud of themselves, but if you could give their group a name, what would you call them?
*Haaretz published a story about our situation in the Grove with this subtitle: “Christian ‘radicalization’ sparks Jewish backlash.”
When did our local story become a story of “Jewish backlash?” And who sent this distortion to Haaretz? .
This is what Haaretz said in their English edition: “In Ocean Grove – the self-proclaimed ‘God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore’ – Jewish and LGBTQ residents are fighting against the ‘traditional’ closure of a local beach on Sunday mornings, which they say is part of the ‘radical agenda’ of the church organization that owns the neighborhood.”
Are the happy campers shown above responsible for this international propaganda? Or did Haaretz happen to turn on their TV in Tel Aviv and come up with the OG story? Where did they get the idea that LGBTQ and Jewish Grovers are “fighting the CMA?” And who told them that the CMA has a “radical agenda?” Finally how did the Haaretz reporter learn that “the church organization owns the neighborhood.?”
Blogfinger has already waved a warning flag to keep an eye on media distortions by ignorant “journalists” who are too lazy or too biased to get the facts right. It is the same issue as when the local and national press showed up over the 2007 gay brouhaha.
Thanks to Grover Tom Pritchard who has alerted us to the Haaretz story.
Note: DEP rules that OG beaches must be open Sunday mornings. Ruling December 2025
Related link: Sunday ruling
HMS PINAFORE: Gilbert and Sullivan. Dedicated to Michael Badger
These people are not champions. They are rude and perhaps illegal invaders of a beach where the people who manage the beach can have some rules even if the beach is in general a public thoroughfare. The law suit should clarify this point.
8/18/2026. Editor’s note:Due to a final ruling by the NJDEP, the OG beaches have been open on Sunday mornings since last year. PG
Champions for Change