Mayor declares Paterson, NJ, ‘the capital of Palestine in the US’
The main street of Paterson, New Jersey, was renamed Palestine Way.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
The mayor of Paterson, New Jersey, Andre Sayegh, declared the city to be the “capital of Palestine in the U.S.” at a ceremony marking the beginning of Ramadan.
Sayegh also stated that the city was one of the four holiest in the world, after Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina.
The mayor referred to Paterson as “The Mecca of New Jersey.”
Andre Sayegh was born in New Jersey to a Syrian mother and a Lebanese father.
The city’s Muslim presence is evident through its many Palestinian flags and signs in Arabic.
Paterson enforces Islamic policies, such as closing schools on Muslim holidays, serving halal food in public schools, and broadcasting the Adhan (Muslim call to prayer) on loudspeakers throughout the city.
The main street in the city was also renamed “Palestine Way,” and the city government actively promotes anti-Israel BDS legislation.
The Hilal lighting ceremony, where Sayegh made these remarks, was supported by the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) and the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC), two organizations that have faced criticism for anti-Israel rhetoric.
Last spring, a poll showed that half of American Muslims supported Hamas’s attacks against Israel.
The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center among 12,693 respondents, found that 49% of American Muslims believe Hamas’s reasons for fighting against the Jewish state are valid.
In contrast, just 18% of American Muslims believe Israel is justified in its fight against Hamas.
Twenty-one percent of American Muslims said the October 7th invasion of Israel and massacre of Jews were acceptable, compared to 5% or less among all other religious groups surveyed.
Americans, as a whole, were far more likely to say Israel’s reasons for fighting were legitimate, compared to Hamas, with 58% of all respondents saying the Jewish state’s war on Hamas is valid, compared to 15% who disagreed.
