A New Jersey realtor was forced to resign after hateful comments aimed at the increasing Orthodox Jewish population in Ocean County surfaced online.

“Not so bad maybe they’ll all move back to New York, ” wrote Tony Sloane, whose Facebook profile lists him as a Realtor at Weichert Realtors’s Long Beach Island Office, located some 35 miles from Lakewood.

Mr. Sloane made the comment on the public “Jackson NJ Strong” Facebook page, on a post addressing Ocean County’s growing Orthodox Jewish population in context of a recent news story about the formation of the City of Palm Tree in Upstate New York, which encompasses the current Kiryas Joel. “Can this happen here?” the post wonders, dripping with disdain.

TLS reported the comments on Thursday, along with condemnation from The Lakewood Vaad.

TLS reported Friday that Mr. Sloane claimed via email and on his Facebook page that he has resigned his position with Weichert and would be leaving the real estate industry.

“I resigned from Weichert today by my own choice. Weichert is in no way responsible for my political beliefs. I will also no longer be doing real estate,” Sloane wrote to TLS in an email.

Weichert Realtors released the following statement to TLS:

“This morning, immediately after learning of the statement posted on Facebook by Tony Sloane, we requested a meeting with him to discuss his actions as they do not in any way reflect the conduct we expect from our sales associates. The company and Tony Sloane have agreed to immediately part ways, and he is no longer affiliated with Weichert.”

“Bigotry against any individual or community has no place in civilized society – period, and we call on Weichert to condemn hate speech,” notes Rabbi Moshe Zev Weisberg, spokesman for The Lakewood Vaad. “The Vaad will continue to aggressively fight discrimination and bigotry in all forms, while seeking to build bridges of tolerance and understanding among people of good will.”