FLASH BACKFILL: “THE DEMOCRATS AND THE REV. KHADER EL YATEEM” EDITION

IS PALESTINIAN-CHRISTIAN CLERIC, KHADER EL YATEEM, EVEN RUNNING FOR ANYTHING  ---  AND IF SO  ---  DOES HE HAVE ANY POLITICAL SUPPORT ANYWHERE FROM ANYBODY ? ? ?

ALTHOUGH BRIEFLY AND CASUALLY MENTIONED AS A >>> POSSIBLE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATE <<< MORE THAN A MONTH AGO  ---  SO FAR, IT DOES NOT APPEAR THAT THE PALESTINIAN-BORN CLERIC HAS MADE ANY ABOVE-GROUND MOVES TOWARD RUNNING FOR THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL

THE PAULA KATINAS COVERAGE IN THE EAGLE

According to the most descriptive of local media report on the subject so far, which is now a month old,   “An intriguing new name has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the City Council seat representing Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. The Rev. Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian who is the pastor of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, is rumored to be considering running for the seat currently held by term-limited Democrat Vincent Gentile…  The Rev. Khader El-Yateem is a respected religious and civic leader in the Arab-American community in Bay Ridge….  King County Politics was the first to report that Pastor El-Yateem was a potential candidate for the council….   Pastor El-Yateem is a well-known name in Arab-American and civic circles in Bay Ridge. He is a member of Community Board 10 and is one of the founders of the Bay Ridge Unity Task Force, a group of religious and civic leaders who work to bring people of various nationalities together to fight prejudice….( See  “Rev. Khader El-Yateem is Community Board 10 member” by Paula Katinas, 1/5/17,  [Brooklyn Daily Eagle  [http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2017/1/5/arab-american-leader-said-be-eyeing-city-council-run]).

The Paula Katinas piece in the Eagle also goes on to state    “King County Politics was the first to report that Pastor El-Yateem was a potential candidate for the council….”

And that  ---  “…   Pastor El-Yateem is a well-known name in Arab-American and civic circles in Bay Ridge. He is a member of Community Board 10 and is one of the founders of the Bay Ridge Unity Task Force, a group of religious and civic leaders who work to bring people of various nationalities together to fight prejudice….   Pastor El-Yateem stands a great chance of garnering widespread support within Bay Ridge’s large and vibrant Arab-American community, according to political observers….   Khader El-Yateem was born in the West Bank in 1968. He studied at the Bethlehem Bible College. He went on to study at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo. He worked for a year at the Bethlehem Bible College and was the youth minister at the Reformation Lutheran Church in the Middle East….   Within a few years, he was invited by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to come to the U.S. and work with the Arab and Middle Eastern communities. He studied at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and later founded the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge.

WHAT KINGS COUNTY POLITICS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE REVEREND’S “UNCONFIRMED RUN” 

“Reverend Khader El-Yateem, a Palestinian Christian clergyman, originally from Jesus’ birthplace of Bethlehem in the West Bank of what now is Israel is fast becoming the consensus choice of candidate among Bay Ridge’s large Arab community to run for next years vacant city council seat representing the neighborhood, according to a source very familiar with local politics….   El-Yateem is the pastor of the popular and politically connected Salam Arabic Lutheran Church, 414 80th Street. A person answering calls at the church would not confirm or deny that El-Yateem is running ….Although not a Muslim, there is a sizable portion of Bay Ridge’s Arab-American population from Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East that is Christian and from which El-Yateem will likely get support….   Additionally, El-Yateem, according to several posts on his Facebook page, is a supporter of the recent resolution condemning Israel’s continued building of settlements on the contested West Bank and the Obama Administration’s support of the resolution through its’ abstention vote. This view will assuredly win him strong support in the large Palestinian and Arab-Muslim communities of Bay Ridge….” (See  “Jockeying For The Inside Track For Gentile’s Bay Ridge Seat” by Stephen Witt,  12.27/16,  Kings County Politics  [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/jockeying-inside-track-gentiles-bay-ridge-seat/]).  

Stephen Witt’s article went on to note that  ---  “Promanent  [sic] Bay Ridge Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour did not return calls at post time to comment on El-Yateem running. Murad Awawdeh, who founded the Muslim Democratic Club of New York with Sarsour, said he is not aware that El-Yateem is considering a run for the seat.   ‘The club will interview all the candidates and decide which one they will back,’ he said…. "

Perhaps the most important observation in the "Kings County Politics" is this phrase:  "...  The unconfirmed news of El-Yateem running…”