Rise Up Ocean County, the controversial Facebook page that's been accused of fostering anti-Semitism among its thousands of users, has been deleted from the social media website for "using hate speech."

The page, and its 19,000 likes, was unpublished on Wednesday. Rise Up Ocean County administrators posted Facebook's notification on their separate website: "Your page has been unpublished for using hate speech, which goes against the Facebook Community Standards."

Rise Up Ocean County administrators said they were appealing Facebook’s decision, which they decried as “arbitrary and capricious." In their appeal to Facebook, the group wrote that it had come under “heavy scrutiny" by Facebook only after Gov. Phil Murphy and Attorney General Gurbir Greal pressured the network.

“We have in fact exercised great caution in OUR posts and OUR comments to insure (sic) that at all times we complied with Facebook community standards,” the appeal states. “The platform is too valuable to our efforts to risk losing it.”

The group noted that it polices comments that they deem “inappropriate.”

In a joint statement, Murphy and Grewal said they "appreciated that Facebook has now decided that this kind of hateful rhetoric has no place on its platform.

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"We’ve consistently and repeatedly made clear our view that the page appeared to violate Facebook’s terms of service," Murphy and Grewal said. "There remains much that should be done to stop the spread of hate on the internet. The Murphy administration will continue to call out hate whenever and wherever we see it, we will persist in demanding meaningful reforms to address the proliferation of hate online, and we will continue working to make New Jersey a safe and inclusive place for all of our residents."

If it seems like déjà vu, it's because Rise Up Ocean County briefly disappeared from the social media giant last month as well.

For about 24 hours, much of Ocean County speculated that Facebook had removed the page. Murphy and Grewal issued a statement commending Facebook for taking "some steps to address anti-Semitic content."

Shortly after their comments, Rise Up Ocean County appeared once again. Its administrators said they had taken the page down themselves in order to avoid a potential hack.

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A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said Wednesday that Facebook confirmed it removed the page.

Rise Up Ocean County launched in October 2018, with a mission statement that declared "quality of life in Ocean County is under assault. We are organizing to restrict development and preserve our quality of life."

The posts on Rise Up Ocean County's Facebook page have been varied. Some criticize local council members for voting one way or the other on local issues. Others simply comment on land use board hearings in the area.

But the vast majority of the posts argue that Lakewood — and its surrounding area —was growing overdeveloped and overcrowded. And many of those posts specifically criticize members of the area's Orthodox Jewish community.

Anti-Semitic tropes and comments have been mainstays on the page, including a post calling on Toms River residents to "declare war."

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In its appeal, Rise Up Ocean county said its "dialogue regarding (the Orthodox Jewish) community is coincidental.

"There is no animosity represented toward that community by our page and no hint of anti-Semitism," the group said. "When 90% of the projected growth comes from a specific segment of society, it is impossible not to include that population in our dialogue.

"As such, discussion about the complex relationship between the Orthodox Jewish world and the secular world is needed if we are ever to find a path forward."

The administrators behind Rise Up Ocean County have never publicly identified themselves. When the group came to local prominence last year, a 45-page dossier outing one alleged creator of the page circulated throughout Lakewood and neighboring towns.

The Asbury Park Press could not confirm the report.

Rise Up Ocean County came under fire last February, when it posted a video parodying the words of "First they came...," the famous poem by German cleric Martin Niemöller about those who stood silent as the Nazis systematically persecuted socialists, union members and Jews during the Holocaust.

"Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me," the poem concludes.

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In the video posted by Rise Up Ocean County, the "socialists," "trade unionists" and Jews of Niemöller's poem were replaced with "my house," "my board of education" and "my township and county government, but I did not vote, because I was busy that day."

The post was eventually removed, and Rise Up Ocean County administrators apologized.

After the "First they came..." satire was published, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a nonprofit group that targets anti-Semitism, hate speech and human rights abuses, petitioned governing bodies to formally denounce the group and website.

The Lakewood Township Committee and Ocean County freeholder board did so. But in Jackson and Toms River, council members refused to formally name Rise Up Ocean County publicly.

"I want to advise any group that makes statements under the protection of their constitutional rights: You need to respect that what you say has consequences that hurts others. And when those words lead to fear, you need to make it right," said Rob Nixon, then the council president in Jackson.

"Regardless of who says what, we’re not going to stand for stereotyping. We’re not going to stand for hate speech."

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is happening. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.