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…”
