Engelwood, NJ – Officials To Libyan Gadhafi: You’re Not Welcome Here

Engelwood, NJ – Local and federal officials delivered a message Sunday to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi should he decide to stay in Englewood during the United Nations General Assembly session next month: You’re not welcome here.

Several reports say the eccentric dictator may stay at an East Hill mansion on Palisade Avenue that his government has owned for more than 25 years during his first visit to the United States.

“If there is a possibility of him visiting Englewood, we should do everything to prevent that,” said Rep. Steve Rothman, whose district includes the city.

Newsweek first reported that Gadhafi may end up in Englewood if the State Department denies his request to pitch a large Bedouin tent in Central Park and stay there during the assembly. Gadhafi is expected to speak in front at the U.N. on Sept. 23, but it is not known when he will arrive.

A State Department spokesman said Sunday that his agency doesn’t publicize where foreign dignitaries reside during visits. The Libyan embassy in Washington did not return a phone call.

Fueling the speculation is a recent Jerusalem Post column entitled “Gaddafi, my neighbor” by noted Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who lives next to the Libyan mansion on Palisade Avenue.

Boteach, who could not be reached Sunday, wrote that renovations began earlier this year on the mansion’s grounds after years of neglect. He said that the construction work coupled with the Newsweek report all but confirm that Gadhafi will stay there.

Long suspected of endorsing and financing terrorism, Gadhafi has been trying to increase the global stature of his oil-rich country after years of isolation.

But critics say he must first atone for past acts like supporting the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland.

“Those who support state-sponsored terrorism should be considered enemies of the United States,” said Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, who is also an Englewood councilman.

Johnson said Englewood police assisted by other departments would be able to handle an appearance by Gadhafi, even though his visit to Italy in June was met with demonstrations that turned violent at times. Hundreds of students protested his appearance at a Rome university by hurling objects, firecrackers and red paint at riot police.

City officials are also irked that police may have to work overtime to protect the leader of a country that has been exempt from paying more than $1 million in property taxes on the 4.7 acre estate.

“Unless this man comes into the U.S. and starts paying his share to reside in this community, this mayor and this community will not be coming with honeycake and sugar,” Mayor Michael Wildes said. “This is going to be an even greater drain on an already overtaxed community.”

City officials had the same concerns in 1985 when reports surfaced that Gadhafi would stay in Englewood when the U.N. convened. Those plans were aborted amid increased escalation of hostilities with the U.S.

Rothman said his staff would contact the State Department Monday to see where Gadhafi plans to stay.

“I am no fan of Moammar Gadhafi and have, in fact, voiced my own concerns about his [possible] appearance in Englewood,” Rothman, a former Englewood mayor, said of Gadhafi’s aborted plans to stay at the mansion in 1985.

There has long been a tense relationship between the city and Libya ever since the country bought the 25-room mansion known as “Thunder Rock” in November 1982.

Libya wanted to use the mansion as a diplomatic mission, but federal officials balked at the idea. A compromise was reached to use it as a weekend and summer retreat for the U.N. ambassador and visiting Libyan dignitaries.

Soon after the purchase, Libya sought to be exempt from local property taxes, prompting a long court battle with the city. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled in favor of Libya in 1985. Englewood officials estimate that the estate would have generated more than $1 million in property taxes by now.

After the U.S. bombing of Libya in 1986, former Rep. Robert G. Torricelli urged the Reagan administration to order Libya to give up the property, but the request went nowhere.

Adding to the outrage is the release last week of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the cancer-stricken Libyan convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Gadhafi praised the release and embraced al-Megrahi, who was greeted as a hero upon his arrival in Tripoli.

Relatives of Americans killed in the bombing plan to converge on New York to protest Gadhafi’s speech.

“He should not be welcomed outside the U.N. grounds as much as he is a despicable leader and a sponsor of terrorism,” said Bert Ammerman of River Vale, whose brother Tom was killed in the bombing.

Boteach said in his column that he would welcome the leader if he were to meet and apologize to the families of the victims of Pan Am 103 as well as publicly declare support for Israel and friendship with Jews.

“I believe that my local Jewish community should keep an open mind about Gaddafi,” Boteach wrote. “If he truly regrets his terror-financing past, then it will show in his actions.”