Israel Matzav

NJ-9 gets uglier: Muslim voters call to 'get rid of the Jew'

Shavua tov v'chodesh tov, a good week and a good month to everyone (I am adding the month because we did not sanctify the moon until tonight - the skies were cloudy when the holiday ended on Sunday).

I have mentioned NJ-9 - a 'reconstituted' congressional district in which I used to reside - before. The Democratic primary in that district features two incumbent Congressman: Steve Rothman, who is Jewish, and Bill Pascrell, who actually represented the part of the district in which I lived, and who is an original member of the 'Gaza 54.' Already in this race, Pascrell refused to disavow a supporter who accused Rothman of dual loyalty in a newspaper op-ed.

Now, the race is getting really ugly. The primary is this coming Tuesday, and Adam Kredo reports that the Muslims in the district - a couple of towns over from where I used to live - say they want to 'get the Jew out of office' (Hat Tip: Pam Geller via Bad Blue).

The race took an unprecedented turn on Monday when an Arabic campaign poster supporting Pascrell surfaced. It urged the “Arab diaspora community” to “elect the friend of the Arabs” and billed the race as “the most important election in the history of the [Arab] community,” according to a WFB translation of the sign.

...

“I don’t read Arabic well, but I am pretty sure that the pro-Pascrell posters that have appeared across the district are not calling to elect the candidate who supports a strong relationship between America and the only democracy in the Middle East, one which is rooted in progressive Western values—women’s rights, gay rights, tolerance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.,” said Josh Block, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Observers such as Susan Rosenbluth, publisher of the New Jersey-based Jewish Voice and Opinion, say the race took an anti-Semitic turn in late February, when a prominent Arab supporter of Pascrell accused the state’s Jewish voters of being more loyal to Israel than America.

“Unquestionably, this primary election is pitting two otherwise harmoniously coexisting communities: the Muslim and Jewish communities,” Aref Assaf, president of the New Jersey-based American Arab Forum, wrote in a New Jersey Star-Ledger column headlined “Rothman is Israel’s man in District 9.”

“As total and blind support for Israel becomes the only reason for choosing Rothman, voters who do not view the elections in this prism will need to take notice. Loyalty to a foreign flag is not loyalty to America’s,” Assaf wrote.

...

Most disturbing, said Rosenbluth and others, is that Pascrell has remained silent, refusing to condemn the charges of dual loyalty.

“I called Pascrell’s office and asked, ‘Will you condemn it?’ ” Rosenbluth said. “They said, ‘We didn’t write it.’”

As Election Day approaches in the tight race, Assaf again has taken to the pages of the New Jersey Star-Ledger to rally the Arab community.

“The more we vote this year, the more important our community will be in future elections,” Assaf wrote Wednesday. “In New Jersey’s Ninth District race between Pascrell and Rothman, our vote will be of pivotal significance to the outcome.”

In a separate column released Monday, Assaf referred to the city of Paterson a “Little Jerusalem,” and deemed “the root of the conflict” in the race as lying “thousands of miles from Paterson, in the heart of the Middle East.”

Assaf went on to make several unfounded claims about what he said is Rothman’s “misdirected commitment” to Israel.

...

Pascrell also has embraced Imam Mohammad Qatanani, a controversial Passaic spiritual leader who stands accused by the State Department of hiding a conviction in Israel for having ties to the terror group Hamas.

Last Friday, Pascrell held a high profile event at a local mosque where he was joined by Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn), a prominent ally of the fringe group J Street and the first Muslim member of Congress.

Pascrell, too, has come under fire for his association with J Street. In 2010, the lawmaker endorsed the so-called “Gaza 54” letter, which demanded that President Obama force Israel to end its “collective punishment” of those living in the Gaza Strip. It is a vote that Pascrell has said he “doesn’t regret.”

“By campaigning so hard with one group, were Congressman Pascrell to win reelection, it seems that his marginally supportive voting record on Israel may take a turn for the worst and become openly hostile,” said the New Jersey-based political operative.

Others are worried that the pro-Israel and Jewish community will suffer if Pascrell is victorious.

“If Pascrell gets in, I’m very worried and concerned because he’s broken many bridges with the Jewish community,” said Rosenbluth. “I resent him turning his back in such a blatant way on the Jewish community.”

Someone please tell me three things:

1. That the Republicans have a good candidate in NJ-9.

2. That the Emergency Committee for Israel will target Pascrell.

3. That the member of the Passaic Jewish community who used to go around soliciting members of the community to support Pascrell has finally stopped.

Labels: American Muslims, Campaign 2012, United States Congress

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:51 PM