A controversial banner which read "STOP THE NEW NAZIS," and featured a swastika, has been removed from a hookah lounge in Paterson.

The banner was posted outside the Clifton Hookah Lounge. It also showed the now former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu depicted as Hitler.

"We want peace, we don't want anything that creates any controversy that evokes emotions that are antithetical to what we're attempting to do,” says Mayor Andre Sayegh.

A photograph of the sign made the rounds on social media.  

"It's an uncomfortable message and I think in it being uncomfortable, it's raising a question,” says employee Liz Marte. “Why is it uncomfortable?  Let’s have that conversation."

Marte says the sign wasn't actually posted by the shop itself.