Leaders from New York City’s Arab and Muslim communities are piling the pressure on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take a more balanced public position about the recent Israel-Gaza war. In a public tour to Israel early January, Mayor Bloomberg supported its military invasion of the Hamas-run territory and failed to acknowledge Palestinian suffering.

Community leaders say they repeatedly advised the Mayor against taking sides in the conflict, but their advice was ignored.

Uncritical support of Israel

Mayor Bloomberg travelled to Israel on January 4, visiting the southern Israeli towns reached by the Hamas-fired rockets which, in the Israeli narrative, provoked its military response. He expressed his sympathy and support for Israel and repeatedly said that he was speaking on behalf of all New Yorkers.

But representatives of the hundreds of thousands of voting, taxpaying Muslim and Arab Americans living in New York City, many of whom have relatives in the Gaza Strip, say he was not speaking on their behalf when he supported the Israeli invasion, which was to leave more than 1,300 Gazans dead and devastate the territory’s infrastructure.

“We need Bloomberg to make a fair and balanced representation of the constituencies who voted for him,” said Pastor Khader al Yateem of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in NY. “We pay our taxes and we are good citizens,” he said.

“I am a proud Palestinian, American and New Yorker,” said Zead Ramadan, who sits on the board of trustees of the Hudson Valley Islamic Community Center, “and I want the mayor to represent all New Yorkers.”

“If Israel paid its taxes to New York City, then perhaps I could understand,” he added.

Critics also said that as an elected civic official Mayor Bloomberg should not take sides in a political conflict.

“He should have been out there [in Israel] advocating for a humanitarian solution,” said

Brooklyn Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-District 43), whose district is home to one of the city’s largest Arab-American populations.

Shortly after the Mayor’s trip, some 300 New Yorkers rallied outside City Hall on January 8 in protest. Many of them left their shoes behind – a nod to the protest methods of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi who pelted his shoes at outgoing President George W. Bush, during a press conference in Baghdad, in December 2008.

Leaders of the Arab-American communities have long expressed frustration at the Mayor’s slight engagement and little recognition of the many sectors of this community, made up of people from myriad countries with diverse political and religious interests.

Disappointment and concern

A spokesperson for the Mayor noted in Aramica’s last issue that the Mayor has “met with community leaders both before and since the crisis.”

But those leaders say Mayor Bloomberg pays mere lip-service to their concerns.

Wael Mousfar, president of the Brooklyn-based Arab Muslim American Federation, said, “Bloomberg called me personally to say that he was going to travel to Israel. He said that bad things were taking place over there; that lots of people were being killed and that is not right.”

Mousfar says that after hearing these words of humanitarian concern, he was therefore surprised to later see Bloomberg the Mayor express his unequivocal support for Israel’s military strikes.

“I did not figure from our conversation that he would give such a one-sided point of view,” says Mousfar.

Pastor Yateem was consulted by the Mayor ahead of his trip, too. “I told him the trip was not timely and has no purpose unless he goes with the mindset to support both sides, a ceasefire and a return to the negotiating table,” says Yateem. “I did not encourage him to go to Israel.”

So he, too, was surprised to see Mayor Bloomberg on the evening news.

“I was very disappointed with the outcome,” says Yateem. “This was a one-sided visit; it did not encourage peace and justice. I was very disappointed that he went to visit these [Israeli] areas and not the Palestinians who are being massacred – even whole families wiped off the map.”

Mousfar says he was further disappointed by the Mayor’s statement delivered on the announcement of a ceasefire between the warring parties. He says it fell far short of what had been agreed upon in a meeting between Muslim and Arab-American representatives and the Mayor on his return from Israel.

Yateem said he worried Bloomberg’s one-sided statements would undermine much of the work he and other faith leaders have done to build bridges between New York City’s different ethnic and religious communities.

“This will affect us more than it will affect him,” says Yateem, “It fragments our communities and encourages hostilities.”

The Mayor’s spokesperson said in a statement to Aramica, “During his trip to Israel the Mayor would have liked to meet with Palestinians in East Jerusalem and planned to, but given the schedule during his trip it was not possible.

“The Mayor sympathizes with the civilian suffering of Palestinians. He was able to meet Palestinian children and their family in an Israeli hospital while he was in Israel.”

Meeting with the Mayor

The Mayor met again with representatives of the Muslim-American and Arab-American communities on Wednesday, February 11.

Pastor Yateem described the meeting as “positive.” He said the Mayor agreed to quarterly meetings with community representatives in the future, and that they were able to convey to the Mayor the damaging effect of his statements.

But what was really going to change?

Did the Mayor say he would publicly apologize for his damaging previous statements, or make any more balanced assessment about the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict? No.

Did the Mayor invite any media to the meeting, allowing himself to be seen with leaders of the Arab- and Muslim-American community? No. (Is it not fair to say that if the Mayor made a similar trip to Palestine, a highly-publicized news conference and photo shoot with leaders of the Jewish community would immediately follow?)

Instead, the Mayor reportedly promised to, “be more sensitive in the future.”

Which begs the question – what future? Do 1,300 more Gazans have to die and thousands more be wounded for the Mayor to show such sensitivity?