In an editorial, Hoboken resident Joshua Sotomayor Einstein thanks Mayor-elect Emily Jabbour for calling out Mayor Ravi Bhalla over the Palestinian flag being raised at City Hall on Tuesday.
Hoboken Mayor-Elect Emily Jabbour should be celebrated by all those of goodwill.
Her straightforward shutdown of Mayor Bhalla’s unilateral abuse of taxpayer-funded resources on a day seemingly chosen because of its connection to terrorism is the dose of common sense the doctor ordered for Hoboken.
In November 2024 Mayor Bhalla, whom many consider to be an absentee mayor, first hoisted the flag of the PLO. This year (2025) it took Mayor Bhalla until December 9th, the anniversary of the First Intifada.
The Intifada was a period of terrorism against Israeli civilians that ended when the PLO promised to renounce violence in the future and was followed by the Oslo Accords which created the Palestinian Authority.
Of course to Mayor Bhalla facts are secondary to image. As he stated at the November 2024 PLO flag raising “I would never cancel the people of Palestine,” something no one had asked him to do.
Yet while posturing as hero, he was forced to require the out-of-town agitators he was posing with to leave their banners calling for the genocide of Israeli’s out of the group picture.
The reality is that Bhalla’s mugging for the camera is not about his asleep-at-the-wheel performance as mayor, nor his new gig as Assemblyman-to-be – it’s about his future rematch for Congress in the Dem primary election against U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez.
If Mayor Bhalla was the humanitarian he so desperately wants to be seen as, would he not raise a flag for the two million Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps run by the Chinese Communist regime?
Would he not attempt to use City Hall or his new position to advocate for the over 400,000 civilians ethnically cleansed in Sudan?
For Mayor Bhalla it’s not about “Palestine,” it’s not about his new legislative district to be, and it was never about Hoboken – it’s about the Bhalla show and we are forced to watch.
Here’s to Mayor-Elect Jabbour for rightfully changing the channel and shutting it down.
Such a non-issue
Props to Emily Jabbour for ending the 8 year reign of Ravi Bollards.
There is nothing to cling to there and Hoboken needs to be a balanced focus where the community can participate in decisions not be ignored and used as a political prop for outside political interests of every kind.
Let’s escape the Ravi matrix, please.
It was and is an issue.
If it wasn’t Ravinder Singh Bhalla would not have made a public apology.
It was not a mistake.
It was a calculated political move that blew up in his face.
There were many “out of scope” issues that Ravi bloviated about, while ignoring issues that impacted our everyday lives. Not saying the Middle East is a non issue – but we do have Senators and Congress people who are elected to represent us on global matters. Hoping Emily keeps her priorities in check.
How about hoisting the Israeli flag and Palestinian flag together after Trump brokers a two/state solution pact that garners him the Nobel Peace Prize? We are ALL God’s Children.
Pandering to one group of residents at the expense of another group is not leadership. All residents of the city, including Jewish and Palestinians should be equally respected. For the flag raising ceremonies the current Mayor has followed that principle regardless of ethnicity and religions of any group. I suggest that the incoming Mayor do the same.
From his first day as Mayor Ravi has cynically exploited the narrative of inclusivity for the purpose of self-promotion.
Emily is the real deal. The last thing she should do on the inclusivity front is follow in Ravi’s cynical self-serving footsteps.
It’s pretty funny, knowing who Ravi really is, watching him try to hitch a ride to Congress on the DSA train.
Take your dirty corrupt crew of a family and get lost. No more shakedowns and exploitation of our town.
The only flag that should ever be raised over Hoboken City Hall is the American flag
Bhalla”s self serving political photo ops needs to stop.
But it is not!! Flags of all communities have been raised along side the American flag for a long time. Your characterization of the Mayor Bhalla’s action as “self serving political photo op” is unfortunate.
What is unfortunate is not the characterization of Ravi’s motives, which are pretty obvious to everyone but his family.
Can you explain why you characterized Mayor Elect Jabbour’s comments as “pandering” to one group of residents over another?
Does Mayor Elect Jabbour being sensitive to the concerns of Jewish residents about the timing of this flag raising really seem like “pandering” to you Mr. Bhalla?
If it does then perhaps Ravi is not the only member of the Bhalla family who has lost their way.
The selective opinion of a bigot who makes up lies about his neighbors celebrating atrocities and vomits hasbara like he’s breathing out air. Wouldn’t give anything he thinks an ounce of energy