New Jersey Jewish News Story

State Democrats feud over freeholder candidate’s alleged anti-Israel remarks

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

A Lebanese-American who is alleged to have made anti-Israel comments four years ago is at the center of an intra-party battle between the Passaic County Democratic Party and two of the state’s top Democratic elected officials.

Jewish community leaders praised Gov. Jon Corzine and Sen. Robert Menendez for opposing the candidacy of Sami Merhi, who was endorsed by Passaic County Democratic Party leaders on March 18 in a bid to run for freeholder.

Corzine and Menendez said they would not support Merhi’s candidacy after learning that Merhi allegedly likened Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Adolf Hitler and said he saw no comparison between the 9/11 hijackers and Palestinians who target Israelis with suicide bombs.

Merhi, a Totowa businessman, told NJ Jewish News, “ I categorically deny making those statements,” which news reports said occurred at a fund-raiser for Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Dist. 8). “No way,” he said.

Nevertheless, United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey and its Community Relations Committee issued a statement Tuesday saying it agreed with Corzine and Menendez.

“We stand with leading political leaders of both parties in rejecting the candidacy of Mr. Merhi for the insensitive, offensive, anti-Israel views he has espoused,” the statement reads.

In an interview with NJJN, Max Kleinman, executive vice president of UJC MetroWest, labeled Merhi “an inappropriate candidate to run for public office because he has expressed a very insensitive and venomous attitude. The killing of innocents is evil, no matter what technique you use. Comparing Sharon to Hitler is just off the reservation. This person is not suited for public office if he has these attitudes.”

Stephen Flatow, president of the MetroWest Community Relations Committee, who lost his 20-year-old daughter Alisa in a 1995 bus bombing in Israel, called on the Passaic County Democratic Committee “to select another candidate for freeholder.”

In a March 21 letter to Pascrell and county Democratic Party chair John Currie, Flatow wrote, “Mr. Merhi’s position regarding suicide bombers — he cannot bring himself to condemn them. Unfortunately, he thereby justifies the actions of these cold-blooded killers. Perhaps Mr. Merhi is simply insensitive and not, as some allege, an anti-Semite. Nonetheless, remarks attributed to him demonstrate that he is not qualified to hold elective office.”

Roger Jacobs, a West Orange attorney and member of the Democratic State Committee, said he regretted Merhi’s endorsement by county Democratic leaders and urged that he not be included on the ballot.

“I call on the party chairman to look for ways to be more inclusive, including participation from the statewide Jewish community,” said Jacobs, past president of the UJC MetroWest CRC.

The dispute goes back to an April 2002 fund-raiser for Pascrell, who has described Merhi as a personal friend and who continued to back his candidacy at press time.

According to a New York Times story on April 7, 2002, Merhi told a reporter the 9/11 terrorists were “crazy fanatics. They’re as far from God and Islam as hell itself.” But when asked if he would say the same about Palestinian suicide bombers, Merhi said, “I can’t see the comparison.”

The same article reported on a story Merhi told at the Pascrell fund-raiser. Merhi told NJJN he was referring to a story he had read about a would-be bomber captured in Israel.

“‘Since I’m dead while I’m still alive,’” Merhi said the man told the Israelis, “‘I decided I’m going to take you with me.’”

Critics in and outside the Jewish community felt Mehri’s words were meant to express sympathy for Palestinian suicide bombers.

Merhi, who is chairman of the American Druze Society, denied the charge.

Pointing out that he lost a godson in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Merhi told NJJN he “condemns violence whether it is committed by a person, a group, or a state. I praise Israelis and Palestinians working together for peace.”

Within a day of Merhi’s alleged remarks on suicide bombing, Pascrell’s office issued a statement quoting the Paterson congressman saying, “I strongly disagree, and completely disassociate myself with, the remarks made by Sami Merhi at an event reported on by The New York Times.”

Pascrell, whose district has both Jewish and Arab constituencies, stands by that condemnation but is not disavowing Merhi’s candidacy.

From his office on Capitol Hill, Pascrell’s chief of staff, Ben Rich, said, “The congressman is supporting the process” that gave Merhi the county committee’s endorsement for freeholder.

“There is a process unfolding and every candidate needs to withstand public scrutiny. The people will decide for themselves what they think,” said Rich.

The county committee has scheduled a meeting for March 25 to reconsider the endorsement.

Aref Assaf, president of the Arab American Forum in Denville, said he has known Merhi “for at least 10 years.”

In Assaf’s view, “this incident was being hijacked and is really going to have serious ramifications — not only to the Democratic Party but to Arab and Jewish people. We need level-headed people to contain the damage before it gets worse. It looks bad.”

Assaf said he spoke to Merhi. “[He] told me he absolutely never said these things. The media sometimes misquote people,” said Assaf. “The bottom line is that this guy, even if he said them, he never meant to say it that way. It was a misunderstanding. He is definitely against terrorism under any circumstance whatsoever, and he has shown tremendous empathy and support for the Jewish community.”

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