Jews Create Divide with Italians in Manalapan. NJ
The ANNOTICO Report
The New Jersey Jewish News
reports that Manalapan Township Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth's husband Larry Roth's "I Hate Italians"
remark created an Italian Jewish divide.
How myopic!!!! The
Italian Community didn't consider, nor ever inferred that the Roth's conduct
was representative of Jewish attitudes generally. But perhaps the
Jewish News knows something we don't.
It was not the Roth's Remarks
that might have caused a Divide, But the Jewish Inaction and Silence in the
Face of those Remarks!
This whole imbroglio seems
to be really a Democratic - Republican conflict, with the Italians being caught
in the cross fire and being vilified.
It really all started when
Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth in opposing a petition that would provide for the
direct election [ Omygod.
Direct Elections rather than Partisan Appointments?] of
the mayor and town council in Manalapan.
In attempting to
"discredit" the Direct Election system, Roth sought to
infer that Direct Elections breed corruption,[How absurd- It's Politics that breeds
corruption] and from ALL the examples of Corruption in Politics, she chose to
name an Italian in a neighboring township [Matthew Scannapieco]
who was convicted of taking a bribe.
Stephen
McEnery, township Republican chair, was incensed and
immediately asked Roth if that meant she didn’t like Italian-Americans.
She didn’t respond. For McEnery, that was “a
subliminal message linking Italians with corruption…. By this linkage,
there’s an inference about Italian-Americans,”
Later
at the same meeting in defense of his wife, Larry Roth was asked why he hadn’t
read the petition. Roth’s reply, which he later said was intended
sarcastically, was: “Because I hate Italians.”
First,
Michelle Roth makes a biased stereotype by "association", an
"insensitive" remark, then arrogantly
refuses to explain.
Then,
Larry Roth makes an "Unforgivable" statement: "I Hate Italians".
Then,
they refused to Immediately apologize or express
remorse. The matter drags out for a month!!!!
Imagine
if a Council Member had made a "I hate
Jews" statement. What would have happened???
“Instead,
10 days later, they went on radio. [Larry finally ]
apologized, but she began to attack McEnery. Michelle justified
the comment, shrugged it off. And on television, her whole demeanor was
arrogant. By her silence, she indicated agreement with her husband’s
sentiment, a public distrust in the Italian community.
Former
Mayor Stuart J. Moskovitz stated: “My
feeling is she could easily have made it go away,” he said. “Once
you see people upset, put it to bed…. She’s at fault. But this isn’t
about the fact her husband made a statement, but rather the way she dealt with
it. To go on the attack, rather than acknowledge the fact it was insensitive…
The [anti-Italian] reference was clear.”
What
is most disappointing in this whole matter was that, the Jewish Community, that
so often speaks loudly for "tolerance" and against
"ethnic/racial insensitivity" did not only not speak
out through their leaders, to condemn such speech, but were
uncharacteristically quiet on the matter, AND they would Not join forces with
the Italian Community in calling for Roth's Resignation, and were Rumored to
have discouraged Bus Loads of Italians from neighboring towns to Rally and call
for Roth's resignation.
Steve
Cataneo, The Italian
American Leader reached out to the Jewish Community, AND they didn't reach
back!!!!!!
Merely
trying to "settle or ease the tensions" or make the problem go away,
is Not Righting a Wrong!!!
THAT
CAN create a Divide, and subject the Jewish Community to justifiable charges of
Hypocrisy!!!!!!
I
encourage the Roth's and those in the Jewish Community who were silent, in the
face of this Infamia become familiar with the
Hebrew Prohibitions against "Lashon Hara" (group slander) and hatred.
IN ONE NJ TOWN,
COMMUNITY LEADERS REACH OUT TO SETTLE ITALIAN-JEWISH DIVIDE
by Norm Oshrin
Special to NJ Jewish News
An
Italian-American leader in Manalapan Township is reaching out to local Jewish
leaders in order to defuse tension over an alleged anti-Italian incident
involving the municipality’s deputy mayor and her husband, both Jewish.
Steve
Cataneo, president of the 300-member Italian-American
Association of Monmouth County, has been urging that Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth
resign in the wake of a township committee meeting at which he alleges she and
her husband Larry made insensitive remarks about Italians.
Wary
of further inflaming ethnic tensions and seeking the Jewish community’s
support, Cataneo has spoken to Rabbi Melinda Panken of the Reform Temple Shaari
Emeth, and Howard Gases, executive director of the
Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County.
“I
don’t want this to become an Italian-Jewish thing,” said Cataneo. “I want the Jewish community to stand by us,
united against any bias remarks.”
The “bias
remarks” were uttered during a March 8 township committee meeting over a
petition that would provide for the direct election of the mayor and town
council in Manalapan.
First,
in stating her opposition to the change, Michelle Roth invoked the name of
Matthew Scannapieco, a former mayor of neighboring
Stephen
McEnery, township Republican chair, was incensed and
immediately asked Roth if that meant she didn’t like Italian-Americans.
She
didn’t respond.
For McEnery, that was “a subliminal message linking
Italians with corruption…. By this linkage, there’s an inference
about Italian-Americans,” he suggested in an interview with NJ Jewish
News.
Speaking
later at the same meeting in defense of his wife, Larry Roth was asked why he
hadn’t read the petition. Roth’s reply, which he later said was
intended sarcastically, was: “Because I hate Italians.”
That
prompted Cataneo and his organization to urge
Michelle Roth’s resignation — a demand that was scheduled to be
reinforced at a township hall rally on April 5, preceding a committee meeting.
While
Cataneo has called for an investigation of the
episode by the Department of Justice, others in the township were looking
warily at what it might mean for Jewish-Italian relations. McEnery
and others recalled an earlier flap in which the Roths
were involved during the 2000 primary mayoral campaign between Mayor Stuart J. Moskovitz and his fellow Democrat, Deputy Mayor Mary Cozzolino.
At
the time, Moskovitz’s supporters alleged that
the Cozzolino campaign, which was run out of the Roths’ business office, “had a heavy
anti-Semitic bent to it,” according to McEnerny.
Moskovitz’s supporters charged that Cozzolino’s campaign was distributing messages
intended to spread resentment of the Jewish community and the Jewish candidate.
“I
don’t want a repeat performance,” McEnery
said.
Moskovitz — who lost the primary —
remains bewildered.
“It
was rather odd,” he said. “Basically, it was an anti-Semitic
campaign by Jews. To be fair, [Michelle Roth] didn’t write or say
anything, but her office was the headquarters and phone calls were being made
along ethnic lines.”
Moskovitz also has advice for Deputy Mayor
Roth in the current flap.
“My
feeling is she could easily have made it go away,” he said. “Once
you see people upset, put it to bed…. She’s at fault. But this isn’t
about the fact her husband made a statement, but rather the way she dealt with
it. To go on the attack, rather than acknowledge the fact it was insensitive…
The [anti-Italian] reference was clear.”
Neither
Michelle Roth — who is steadfastly refusing to resign — nor her
husband returned phone calls seeking comment.
Mayor
Drew Shapiro also declined to comment.
“I’m
trying to keep the community together,” he said in a brief conversation
with NJJN.
For
his part, the federation’s Gases — who labeled Larry Roth’s
comments “very insensitive” — observed: “While we are
always in support of coalition building [on] issues of mutual interest and
concern, we are not in a position to ask [Michelle Roth] to resign.”
Cataneo, meanwhile, is waiting to speak in
more detail with Panken, who was married on April 2.
“I
would love nothing more than to say the Jewish community stood by us,” he
said. “It is irrelevant if [Roth’s comment] was sarcastic, a joke,
a jest. Jewish people understand.”
Larry
Roth insists that the remark was sarcastic. Quoted in the Asbury Park Press, he
said: “My sarcastic statement about Italian-Americans does not represent
who I am and is the exact opposite of what I am all about.… My wife had
no idea what I was going to say. To hold her responsible for these words is
morally wrong.”
But Cataneo says that misses the point.
“I
totally believe he was, in fact, being sarcastic,” Cataneo
said. “The problem here is we have an elected official whose husband made
that comment in a public forum. She did not stand up and denounce it.
“Instead,
10 days later, they went on radio. [Larry] apologized, but she began to attack McEnery. She justified the comment, shrugged it off. And on
television, her whole demeanor was arrogant. By her silence, she indicated
agreement with her husband’s sentiment, a public distrust in the Italian
community.
“When
she failed to stand up as deputy mayor and failed to take action, she turned
what is a moral issue into a political issue,” Cataneo
said. “She buried herself so deep.”
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