Congressman
Steve Rothman was one of the most courageous voices in opposing Libyan
dictator Muammar Kaddafi from staying in Englewood. Since then,
however, he seems to be making the curious decision of identifying me,
a constituent, Rabbi, and father of nine, as a bigger threat than my
next-door neighbor, the Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdel
Rahman Shalgam.
First, after I objected to my Congressman’s
good neighbors” to the man who served as Kaddafi’s foreign minister for
nine years, Rothman wrote a three page press release attacking me and
defending the status quo of the representative of a terror-sponsoring
government living tax-free in the midst of thirty thousand hard-working
New Jersey citizens who can barely afford their own property taxes amid
a brutal recession.? ?After I published a rebuttal, I called Rothman
and invited him on to my radio show on WABC 770AM in New York City.
Politely explaining that the short notice made it impossible, my
Congressman reiterated how the law protects the Ambassador’s right to
live next-door to me, based on an understanding Rothman had brokered
between the Libyans and the State Department in 1982. No one has seen
this agreement. I told the Congressman that as more concerned Englewood
citizens joined the campaign to pressure the Libyan mission out of our
city, he risked being out of step with his own constituents and
damaging his leadership.
I was puzzled by his next comment, where he said that negative
information about me had been brought to his attention and that I ought
to be careful and know that I was not as popular as I think. OK. But
life is not a popularity contest and let’s put aside New Jersey’s
notoriously bare-knuckle politics. As an orthodox Jew I have always
attempted to train myself to fear none but G-d alone. Being intimidated
by the Libyans or allies of the Congressman is just not my style,
although it was helpful to know whence such attacks might stem.?
Rothman can emerge as a hero if he fought the Libyan mission as
courageously as he did Kaddafi himself. Why indeed, after boldly
labeling Kaddafi a madman with American blood on his hands, would he
allow sovereign Libyan territory to flourish in his district?
?In August, 2009 while opening the African Union summit in Tripoli
in celebration of his 40th anniversary as the dictator of Libya,
Kaddafi said that Israel is responsible for all the conflicts in
Africa. He demanded that “all of its embassies on the continent be shut
down.” Just as he had issued a blood libel against Israel and
trivialized the holocaust by accusing Israel, through his UN mission,
of turning Gaza into a concentration camp, Kaddafi extended the blood
libel by accusing Israel of “fuelling the crises in Darfur, Southern
Sudan and Chad in order to exploit the riches held by those areas.
Which is why we call on Israel’s ambassadors to leave Africa.” So now
Israel is responsible for the genocide not just of the Palestinians but
the Sudanese as well.?
We American Jews are not asked to join the Israeli army and defend
the Jewish state against constant attack. We are mostly cheerleaders of
the courageous Israeli nation from the sidelines. But surely at the
very least we can demonstrate our devotion to Israel’s existential
struggle by showing Kaddafi, and other brutal Arab dictators, that
their murderous diatribes against Israel’s peaceful embassies will be
met with equal opposition to their own palatial diplomatic missions in
heavily-populated Jewish communities like Englewood. To retreat from
even this battle is to show cowardice and a lack of solidarity with
Israel’s brave citizens in confronting Arab tyrants who demand their
destruction.?
And saying that the law provides for the Libyans to reside in our
community is no excuse. We were told the same thing by the officials of
Englewood when Kaddafi’s palace was being readied to accommodate the
tyrant. But we found numerous construction violations that were used to
win a court order stopping work on the Libyan mission and making it
impossible for Kaddafi to inhabit a structure that was still a wreck.
On New Year’s Eve, Hannibal Kaddafi paid Beyonce $2 million to
perform at a party at St. Barts. Over Christmas he stayed at a
£4,000-a-night suite at Claridge’s Hotel in London where, at about
1:30am, members of his security staff were arrested for obstructing
police officers. The police had responded to screams they had
reportedly heard from Kaddafi’s wife, 29-year-old model Aline Skaf, who
was taken to hospital with facial injuries and a suspected broken
nose.? Why wasn’t Kaddafi’s son arrested for allegedly assaulting his
wife? Because he called the Libyan ambassador in the UK, who informed
the police that he had diplomatic immunity. Kaddafi’s security were
later “de-arrested” after Ms. Skaf told the police that her injuries
had come from a fall rather than from her husband.?
These are the kinds of people we in Englewood are now being asked to
treat as ‘good neighbors’ even as the Ambassador and his security
personnel enjoy the same diplomatic immunity. While struggling to keep
our own jobs should we accept that the Libyans, who can blow millions
on their entertainment, not contribute a single penny toward their
police protection in Englewood or basic services like garbage removal??
?Every American, in the post 9/11 world has an obligation to
confront terrorism by every legal means necessary. The brave passengers
of flight 253 who confronted underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
understood that is it not merely the TSA who are responsible to avert
an airline bombing.
?And what does it say to our brave men and women in the military,
fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, when they see the
representatives of terror-sponsoring states living regally in American
suburbs? If Shalgham has to represent his government at the UN – and it
would be best if the entire UN, which has become a bully pulpit for
rogue dictators, were moved outside the US – then let him at least be
confined in close proximity to the UN.
A month ago I visited Zimbabwe and was inspired by my meeting with
deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara who told me, after I asked him
if he feared Mugabe’s henchmen, that he is ‘unintimidatable.’ When it
comes to confronting tyranny we must all learn to overcome fear and
pursue justice.?
?Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of This World: The Values
Network, is the international best-selling author of 22 books, most
recently ‘The Kosher Sutra’ and ‘The Blessing of Enough.’ Follow him on
Twitter @RabbiShmuley.?
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