In the last week, several international and national publications, including the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and B’nai Brith Budapest have attempted to sidetrack my Congressional campaign from its central mission. One article, “Ritchie Torres challenger takes aim at Bronx ‘Zionist millionaires’ in campaign video,” has been reprinted in four outlets. No effort was made by these publications to directly contact my campaign.
So, from the Bronx, to Budapest, by way of Tel Aviv, I am being discussed. That would be good news, except the coverage is a big fat lie. The very first sentence of the attack on me, in fact, contains a lie. It says: “Political organizer Jose Vega claimed Ritchie Torres was ‘bought and controlled by Zionist influencers and millionaires in a new congressional campaign video.”
My campaign did not produce “a Congressional campaign video.” The video in question was not checked with my campaign before it appeared. It is the product of an interview I did with influencer Erik Warsaw, which he then designed and uploaded. He provided graphics and other background images which suggested views which are in fact contrary to what I said, and what I believe. They then ascribe to me what were Warsaw’s additions—and then use the whole concoction to denounce me as “antisemitic.” This is a lie, and a piece of transparent sophistry. Had any one of these publications wished to, they could have contacted me to confirm what they, instead, misreported. I believe they did so intentionally. They could prove me wrong by agreeing to publish this statement as my view of the matter.
A contrast to this dishonest coverage—neither favorable, nor unfavorable, but factual—appeared in the Bronx Times, as part of a larger article. “Jose Vega, a political organizer who is challenging Torres for the second time, said the key to this approach is meeting voters where they are. ‘Being in the streets was the most important aspect of his campaign,’ Vega said. Vega said he is running on a platform that emphasizes reindustrialization, bringing jobs and investment to the Bronx and tackling what he sees as excessive foreign influence in the district’s political landscape.”
That is the focus of my campaign, and my difference with Ritchie Torres. The Bronx Times contained more truth about my campaign in less than 100 words, than did the entire 2,624 words of the article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post. But enough of all this: let’s get to what this attack was really about. The article spoke of the late economist Lyndon LaRouche, and asserted, just as with the lie about my “Congressional campaign video,” some lies about what LaRouche “reportedly said,” but gave no sources or attribution whatsoever. That was clearly intentional—and all to promote the discredited lies about LaRouche being “antisemitic.”
