Congressman
\nSteve Rothman was one of the most courageous voices in opposing Libyan
\ndictator Muammar Kaddafi from staying in Englewood. Since then,
\nhowever, he seems to be making the curious decision of identifying me,
\na constituent, Rabbi, and father of nine, as a bigger threat than my
\nnext-door neighbor, the Libyan Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdel
\nRahman Shalgam.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
First, after I objected to my Congressman’s
\nstatement encouraging the citizens of Englewood to be “appropriately
\ngood neighbors” to the man who served as Kaddafi’s foreign minister for
\nnine years, Rothman wrote a three page press release attacking me and
\ndefending the status quo of the representative of a terror-sponsoring
\ngovernment living tax-free in the midst of thirty thousand hard-working
\nNew Jersey citizens who can barely afford their own property taxes amid
\na brutal recession.? ?After I published a rebuttal, I called Rothman
\nand invited him on to my radio show on WABC 770AM in New York City.
\nPolitely explaining that the short notice made it impossible, my
\nCongressman reiterated how the law protects the Ambassador’s right to
\nlive next-door to me, based on an understanding Rothman had brokered
\nbetween the Libyans and the State Department in 1982. No one has seen
\nthis agreement. I told the Congressman that as more concerned Englewood
\ncitizens joined the campaign to pressure the Libyan mission out of our
\ncity, he risked being out of step with his own constituents and
\ndamaging his leadership.<\/p>\n
I was puzzled by his next comment, where he said that negative
\ninformation about me had been brought to his attention and that I ought
\nto be careful and know that I was not as popular as I think. OK. But
\nlife is not a popularity contest and let’s put aside New Jersey’s
\nnotoriously bare-knuckle politics. As an orthodox Jew I have always
\nattempted to train myself to fear none but G-d alone. Being intimidated
\nby the Libyans or allies of the Congressman is just not my style,
\nalthough it was helpful to know whence such attacks might stem.? <\/p>\n
Rothman can emerge as a hero if he fought the Libyan mission as
\ncourageously as he did Kaddafi himself. Why indeed, after boldly
\nlabeling Kaddafi a madman with American blood on his hands, would he
\nallow sovereign Libyan territory to flourish in his district?<\/p>\n
?In August, 2009 while opening the African Union summit in Tripoli
\nin celebration of his 40th anniversary as the dictator of Libya,
\nKaddafi said that Israel is responsible for all the conflicts in
\nAfrica. He demanded that “all of its embassies on the continent be shut
\ndown.” Just as he had issued a blood libel against Israel and
\ntrivialized the holocaust by accusing Israel, through his UN mission,
\nof turning Gaza into a concentration camp, Kaddafi extended the blood
\nlibel by accusing Israel of “fuelling the crises in Darfur, Southern
\nSudan and Chad in order to exploit the riches held by those areas.
\nWhich is why we call on Israel’s ambassadors to leave Africa.” So now
\nIsrael is responsible for the genocide not just of the Palestinians but
\nthe Sudanese as well.?<\/p>\n
We American Jews are not asked to join the Israeli army and defend
\nthe Jewish state against constant attack. We are mostly cheerleaders of
\nthe courageous Israeli nation from the sidelines. But surely at the
\nvery least we can demonstrate our devotion to Israel’s existential
\nstruggle by showing Kaddafi, and other brutal Arab dictators, that
\ntheir murderous diatribes against Israel’s peaceful embassies will be
\nmet with equal opposition to their own palatial diplomatic missions in
\nheavily-populated Jewish communities like Englewood. To retreat from
\neven this battle is to show cowardice and a lack of solidarity with
\nIsrael’s brave citizens in confronting Arab tyrants who demand their
\ndestruction.?<\/p>\n
And saying that the law provides for the Libyans to reside in our
\ncommunity is no excuse. We were told the same thing by the officials of
\nEnglewood when Kaddafi’s palace was being readied to accommodate the
\ntyrant. But we found numerous construction violations that were used to
\nwin a court order stopping work on the Libyan mission and making it
\nimpossible for Kaddafi to inhabit a structure that was still a wreck.<\/p>\n
On New Year’s Eve, Hannibal Kaddafi paid Beyonce $2 million to
\nperform at a party at St. Barts. Over Christmas he stayed at a
\n\u00a34,000-a-night suite at Claridge’s Hotel in London where, at about
\n1:30am, members of his security staff were arrested for obstructing
\npolice officers. The police had responded to screams they had
\nreportedly heard from Kaddafi’s wife, 29-year-old model Aline Skaf, who
\nwas taken to hospital with facial injuries and a suspected broken
\nnose.? Why wasn’t Kaddafi’s son arrested for allegedly assaulting his
\nwife? Because he called the Libyan ambassador in the UK, who informed
\nthe police that he had diplomatic immunity. Kaddafi’s security were
\nlater “de-arrested” after Ms. Skaf told the police that her injuries
\nhad come from a fall rather than from her husband.?<\/p>\n
These are the kinds of people we in Englewood are now being asked to
\ntreat as ‘good neighbors’ even as the Ambassador and his security
\npersonnel enjoy the same diplomatic immunity. While struggling to keep
\nour own jobs should we accept that the Libyans, who can blow millions
\non their entertainment, not contribute a single penny toward their
\npolice protection in Englewood or basic services like garbage removal??<\/p>\n
?Every American, in the post 9\/11 world has an obligation to
\nconfront terrorism by every legal means necessary. The brave passengers
\nof flight 253 who confronted underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
\nunderstood that is it not merely the TSA who are responsible to avert
\nan airline bombing.<\/p>\n
?And what does it say to our brave men and women in the military,
\nfighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, when they see the
\nrepresentatives of terror-sponsoring states living regally in American
\nsuburbs? If Shalgham has to represent his government at the UN – and it
\nwould be best if the entire UN, which has become a bully pulpit for
\nrogue dictators, were moved outside the US – then let him at least be
\nconfined in close proximity to the UN.<\/p>\n
A month ago I visited Zimbabwe and was inspired by my meeting with
\ndeputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara who told me, after I asked him
\nif he feared Mugabe’s henchmen, that he is ‘unintimidatable.’ When it
\ncomes to confronting tyranny we must all learn to overcome fear and
\npursue justice.?<\/p>\n
\n?Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of This World: The Values
\nNetwork, is the international best-selling author of 22 books, most
\nrecently ‘The Kosher Sutra’ and ‘The Blessing of Enough.’ Follow him on
\nTwitter @RabbiShmuley.?<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n