Is Billy Prempeh Truly Opposing Arms for Israel, or is this a Phony Flier w/ Disinformation? – Updated Eli Moallem Has Asked to Review Flier
UPDATE – Having reached out to Billy Prempeh’s campaign manager Eli Moallem on Facebook, he has responded and requested a copy of the flier in question. Mr. Moallem’s only response so far is:
“You commented on a post for a local BOE race having nothing to do with Billy. This is no way to try and communicate with a campaign.”
It is true that I did contact Mr. Moallem at first on the board site, that is the first place I found a way to contact him. I have removed that comment. I sill though am looking for clarifcation – questions that are unanswered and have been put to Mr. Moallem:
“Is this an official flier? My guess is NO because misspelling and because no indication that it is official. But you should be able to clarify if Billy truly opposes arms to Israel or if his position is more aligned with Trump.“
We await Billy or Eli’s answer.
I have reached out to Republican candidate NJ Congressional District 9, the most pro-Palestine congressional district in NJ given that Paterson, the second largest Palestinian enclave in the US is part of District 9. I have put the below response under 3 of his tweets – two very recent and the third under his pinned tweet asking for clarification. So far Billy is silent.
A flier has circulated online lauding “Bill Premph” as an anti-Israel candidate. “No AIPAC endorsement,” suggests that he is opposed to AIPAC, opposed to arming Israel, and supports a cease fire.
In a recent debate with Nellie Pou, sponsored by NJ Globe and Rider University, he said that he supported former President Trump’s Muslim ban. He also placed the blame for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians on Iran, saying that “Iran-back terrorism” was the cause of the war.
Despite this, he was somehow endorsed by CAIR-NJ Action, which did a good job on its endorsement list – but this editor disagrees with that endorsement.
Ben Taylor, the NJ-9 Green Party candidate, is the clear pro-Palestine candidate in District 9 – he carries the Palestine flag and has been on Paterson streets promoting his pro-Palestine position. His website clearly states his support for Palestine, opposition to Israel and AIPAC. Prempeh’s website is silent and has a bunch of ultra patriotic pro-Trump positions – as he carries an American flag.
In the recent debate, Prempeh was asked if he disagreed with Trump on anything, and he said “There’s one thing that I don’t agree with… when President Trump said he’ll bomb the hell out of Iran, that’s a little bit scary… But, I’ve learned to trust the judgment of the [former] President.”
Meanwhile, Trump says that Israel should finish the job (of exterminating Palestinians), so Prempeh must support that by his own admission.
This editor believes this flier – with its misspelling of the name and the claim to pro-Palestinian positions is a black bag operation to trick pro-Palestine voters in D9 to back a Trump-supporting candidate. Trump has also called for brutal repression of the pro-Palestine movement and Giuliani at the recent Trump rally called for deportation of Palestinians. Those are the positions of Trump that Billy agrees with.
Even NJ Globe was puzzled by the CAIR Action NJ endorsement of Billy Prempeh. They did a tremendous job on their endorsement list and should be commended – and they did also endorse Ben Taylor. They rejected Nellie Pou so they got D9 mostly right. It is unfortunate though that they ended up endorsing someone supporting a Muslim ban and who agrees with everything Trump supports aside from a full scale war with Iran. He even indicated in his answer that he is open to that.
It is too late to fully address this issue now before the elections. CAIR Action played a historic role in considering the Green Party candidacies. It is perfectly legit though in the future to ask candidates to provide some documentation and verification of their policies. Politicians can be crafty when it comes to speaking out of two sides of their mouths to different constituencies.
