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Story and photos by Jeanette Friedman
ENGLEWOOD, New Jersey -- In the wake of a week’s worth of sound bites and streaming video generated in the world-wide media by the righteous neighborly indignation of American rabbi, Shmuley Boteach, Libyan strongman Moammar Qadhafi won’t be pitching his tent anywhere near this chic commuter town anytime soon. This fashionable town on the west bank of the Hudson has pulled the welcome mat out from under the dictator’s feet.
The Libyan property where the air-conditioned Bedouin tent was to be pitched is sandwiched between the Boteach family home and the Moriah Jewish Day School. It was purchased by the Libyan government in the dead of night in November 1982, just as Steve Rothman, now the U.S. Congressman from Englewood, became the city’s mayor-elect. In recent weeks, the Libyans spent millions upon millions of dollars to dress up the derelict mansion that had been moldering for decades on Palisade Avenue, the town’s main thoroughfare.
Rumors about Qadhafi’s tent being pitched on the lawn infuriated New Jerseyans, and the unapproved, overnight construction added fuel to the fire. Rabbi Shmuley, who for a time tried to counsel the late pop star Michael Jackson, contacted the media, and the story began to grow. In addition to breaking the zoning laws, not obtaining the proper permits and not adhering to code, the plans for Qadhafi would result in the city having to provide police officers to make sure security around the Libyan property was tight. After it all, it would take just one looney-tune who decides to take matters into his own hands, and the collateral damage could be devastating.
The story was everywhere, with many on-air appearances by the rabbi and Mayor Michael Wildes. The networks, the cable news feeds, Time magazine, the New York Times, the Today Show, CBS and of course, Fox News, all ran with it.
The tumultuous week ended with a rally and photo opportunity on August 30 on the rabbi’s lawn. It was attended by a mass of media people, about 150 Englewood residents and concerned citizens, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, Congressman Steve Rothman and Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes—along with Rabbi Shmuel Goldin, who leads the largest modern Orthodox congregation in the U.S., and other local clergy who helped organize the event.
Prominent among the protestors were family members of those who were murdered in Libya’s terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988. The bombing killed 270 people, 38 of them from New Jersey. The bombing allegedly was in retaliation for American strikes against Libyan terrorism that had resulted in the deaths of Qadhafi family members.
The anger on the Boteach lawn was palpable, and not just because the Libyans had removed Rabbi Shmuley’s trees and fences with impunity. Mostly it was Qadhafi’s unmitigated chutzpah for claiming Libya is now a mainstream member of civilized nations—clearly not the case. Just ten days earlier, the Libyan intelligence officer convicted in 2001 of blowing up Flight 103 was “compassionately” released by the Scots, ostensibly because he had prostate cancer.
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The terrorist, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, was given a hero’s welcome when he landed in Libya and met with his “august” leader the very next evening.
In 2003, the Libyan government had finally taken responsibility for the bombing, and, calling the victims’ families greedy, remorselessly paid out restitution money. In Arabic it’s called Diyah, blood money. But there was more to it than that. In 2004, President George W. Bush lifted sanctions that had been in place since 1992 and resumed diplomatic ties with the terrorist-sponsoring state, gaining access to Libyan light crude oil. Libya has the largest reserves of such oil in the world.
British newspapers have reported that the terrorist’s release had been engineered over a number of years by British foreign minister Jack Straw and the Scots—in return for light crude and intelligence information. A deal was soon inked with British Petroleum, and soon after that, the terrorist was sent home.
That is just one reason why newly-minted American citizen and software engineer, Mohamed Eljahmi, drove through the night from Boston to Englewood. He burst into tears at the podium as he described how his brother, Fathi, a Libyan dissident, was jailed and tortured for speaking truth to power in his home country, and how his sister-in-law and nieces were threatened with rape.
After Fathi’s first arrest in 2002, now Vice President Joe Biden negotiated his release. Two years later, the Libyans arrested Fathi again. Suffering from advanced diabetes, Fathi was tossed into solitary confinement, denied medical treatment and, when he finally fell into a coma in early May 2009, he was shipped to Jordan, where he died on May 29.
With such concerns and serious security issues that would be difficult for the township to manage, (in addition to Moriah, the Dwight-Englewood School is across the street) as well as Boteach family concerns, New Jerseyans sought help from the White House and Congress. After leaders' discussions with Rahm Emanuel, the President’s chief of staff, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others, on the Friday before the rally, the Libyans told Congressman Rothman that the township could relax--Qadhafi wouldn’t be coming to town after all.
As the strains of “Amazing Grace” played by Scottish bag pipers floated in the sunshine, Rothman was able to make it official. “[Qadhafi’]s appearance would have presented unnecessary safety and security issues for the residents of Englewood and the Libyan diplomats [who would move to Englewood]. I want to thank President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the literally dozens of their appointees I have had the pleasure to work so closely with over the past seven days in achieving this result… ”
As for Rabbi Shmuley and Mayor Michael Wildes—they have teamed up to make the Libyans understand that they have to obey local laws, diplomatic immunity notwithstanding. Anyone in Englewood who has ever been in a property line and zoning dispute with his/her next door neighbors knows precisely how that gets to play itself out! Do not envy the Libyans.
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