A recent article on David Wildstein’s political gossip blog has resurfaced 22-year-old unsubstantiated allegations against Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah in the closing days of his challenge to a political dinosaur who has funded the horrific slaughter of children in the Middle East.
The story, published just days before Khairullah’s Democratic primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Bill Pascrell in the 9th congressional district draws to an end, revisits an alleged domestic dispute dismissed before it was ever litigated in court.
Wildstein, a Jewish former GOP mayor and appointee at the Port Authority under Republican Governor Chris Christie, is infamous for his role in the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal.
Wildstein orchestrated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge as political retribution against a Democratic mayor who declined to endorse the Republican Christie’s re-election campaign.
In his latest article, Wildstein claims Khairullah was arrested in 2002 on domestic violence charges after his then-wife accused him of assault.
The charges were dismissed like other dismissed allegations against Khairullah that Wildstein mentioned for the first time less than a week before voting ends on June 4.
Those unsubstantiated allegations include a 2020 simple assault and a 2005 harassment complaint. Khairullah was shamefully uninvited from a White House celebration for Eid al-Fitar one year ago.
Khairullah is competing in a primary that should determine the next congressional representative for the district.
The incumbent, 87-year-old Bill Pascrell, is a career politician with a decades-long history in taxpayer-funded positions.
The 87-year-old Pascrell served as a state Assemblyman and mayor of Paterson before his 1996 election to the United States Congress.
Pascrell was a sergeant in the United States Army from 1958 to 1967, a high school teacher, for 12 years, a member of the Paterson Board of Education, and mayor of Paterson at the same time he was in the New Jersey General Assembly until his 1996 election to Congress.
Pascrell’s tenure in Congress has coincided with a significant decline in the socio-economic landscape for working-class Americans.
Wage stagnation, diminishing job security, and soaring costs of living, especially in housing, healthcare, and education, have exacerbated income inequality and economic instability for a significant number of Americans.
Following the 2012 redistricting, the district represented by Congressman Bill Pascrell was merged with that of fellow Democrat Steve Rothman, leading to a primary contest between them. Rothman’s turf comprised 53% of the newly formed district and 43% of the area was previously represented by Pascrell.
The primary contest devolved into a highly competitive proxy war over Israel, that included appeals to Arab-American constituents were described as “outrageous attacks on Rothman.” Jewish Voice and Opinion publisher Susan Rosenbluth sharply criticized Pascrell for remaining silent and refusing to condemn antisemitic slurs.
On October 10, 2002, Pascrell was among 81 Democratic House members to vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq.
Now the Arab American community is solidly against the 14-term House member over his support for the brutal retaliation that killed more than 15,000 Palestinian children in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Former supporters now call him a “charlatan” and a “mouthpiece for the dehumanization of Palestinian people.” They say Pascrell’s seeming indifference to their concerns over Israel’s offensive in Gaza and his refusal to back a cease-fire has led them to consider backing Democratic challengers in June — including a former aide.
“You can’t call yourself a friend of the community and then turn your back on them,” said Clifton school board member Feras Awwad, whose grandparents are from Ein Karem, a village outside Jerusalem. “There’s not a chance in hell anybody’s going to be supporting him.”
“I can’t control the politics of Israel,” said Pascrell at a fundraiser in Paterson after two months of merciless bombing in Gaza that killed the first 20,000 people. “But they have every right to protect themselves and defend themselves. Case closed.”
Khairullah’s campaign has not responded to the allegations detailed by Wildstein but the Jewish blogger could be exhibiting bias against the longest-serving Muslim mayor in the nation.
A prominent Jewish Republican, who wished to remain unnamed, said that for the ten years Wildstein wrote a political gossip blog under the pseudonym Wally Edge, he “was always interested in the Jewish community and was always pumping me for information about it.”
Khairullah has been elected as Prospect Park mayor six times since the initial 2002 incident, and Wildstein’s blog withheld the name of Khairullah’s ex-wife, citing only her initials.
The contentious primary battle between Khairullah and Pascrell underscores the intense scrutiny and political maneuvering typical in high-stakes elections. With Pascrell’s long tenure and Khairullah’s local popularity, voters in the 9th district face a pivotal choice in next week’s primary.
The resurfacing of these unproven allegations at such a critical juncture raises questions about the motivations behind the timing and the ethical implications of leveraging unsubstantiated claims in political contests. As the primary approaches, both candidates will need to address not only the immediate issues but also the broader concerns affecting their constituents.