The Republican candidate seeking Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr.'s seat in Congress produced what he says are anti-Israel statements uttered by a cleric leading one of the state’s largest mosques, whom the congressman has supported in his fight against deportation.
On Friday, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach released English translations of mosque lectures in Arabic by Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, which he contends contain anti-Israel messages.
He called on Qatanani, a Palestinian, to explain the statements. If he will not, he challenged Pascrell to disavow the imam, who federal prosecutors assert is affiliated with Hamas.
The government is attempting to overturn the permanent resident status the cleric won in immigration court in 2008 and have him deported.
Boteach, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and GOP candidate in the 9th District, said the popular imam is “a problem I can no longer ignore.”
He said he has tried to reach Qatanani, who has been praised by Pascrell and Governor Christie for his mosque’s cooperation with law enforcement after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The imam has not responded, Boteach said.
“He must explain them [the statement], say he never said them, say they were translated wrong,” Boteach said. “And he must condemn Hamas.”
The statements were translated from Arabic into English by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group that researches organizations it believes are connected to radical Islam.
Representatives of the Investigative Project could not be reached Friday afternoon, and none was present at Boteach’s press event.
Qatanani’s lectures are posted on the mosque’s website. Some of the lectures were recorded with an English interpreter speaking over Qatanani’s Arabic. The Investigative Center only posted excerpts of the lectures on its website. And Boteach distributed some of those excerpts to reporters.
Qatanani, who has served as imam of the Islamic Center in Paterson for 16 years, could not be reached Friday. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Jordan and immigrated to New Jersey with his family in 1996 on a work visa. In 1999 he applied for permanent residency, which federal immigration authorities denied in July 2006.
An immigration judge ruled in Qatanani’s favor in 2008, ordering that he be granted permanent resident status. An FBI agent testified on Qatanani’s behalf as a character witness. But the government appealed, and the case was sent back in 2009 for further fact-finding. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26.
Pascrell’s campaign did not directly comment on Boteach’s remarks.
“Congressman Pascrell represents one of the most diverse districts in the country and has a proven track record of fighting on behalf of all of his constituents, no matter their race or religion,” said Keith Furlong, Pascrell’s campaign manager. “He continues to work to build bridges in both New Jersey and Washington, where he is focused on bringing Democrats and Republicans together to help middle-class taxpayers, especially on building support for his Bring Jobs Home Act to insource jobs back to the United States.”
Boteach said that if Qatanani either recants his statements or explains them, he will join others in advocating for him to remain in the United States.