The Truth Defies Silence—and Ritchie Torres’ Protectors: Statement by independent candidate Jose Vega (15th CD-Bronx)

Feb. 1—The following statement was released today by the Jose Vega for Congress campaign. We reproduce it in full below.

In the last week, several international and national publications, including the Jerusalem Post, Times of Israel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and B’nai B’rith 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 that 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 attributions whatsoever. That was clearly intentional—and all to promote the discredited lies about LaRouche being “antisemitic.”

I can tell you what LaRouche stood for, when it came to “the Middle East.” LaRouche wrote and proposed what became known as “the Oasis Peace Plan” in 1975, and updated that plan in the 1980s and 1990s as well. This was a plan for massive water desalination using the well-known capacities of Israel, the engineering capabilities of Palestinians, and the then-emerging oil fortunes of the Arab states, to “green the desert” and build new cities in Southwest Asia.

I want it to be clear: I not only support this Oasis Plan—I want to see a similar plan for the United States, and the 15th CD. I think this has to be the method of all United States foreign policy, rather than endless no-win war. I want everyone, and that includes people in Riverdale, to support my call for a “Space Civilian Construction Corps,” emphasizing apprenticeship programs in engineering, machining, construction and advanced science for everyone in the Bronx. That would go a giant step toward ending the national disgrace which is the Bronx 15th CD.

And that’s why I call the Bronx “Gaza West.” Both are said to be insoluble—but that’s only if one group of people believes that another group of people are not human beings. “I Am A Man” was the slogan of the Memphis sanitation workers that Martin Luther King died defending. Give up the idea that “some people are animals,” and both Gazas, east and west, can become Oases, rather than Infernos. Stop saying you believe “all men and women are created equal,” and put shovels in the ground and crash programs into effect to prove it.

The lying Jerusalem Post article, however, did get one thing right. They noted that “Torres, meanwhile, has $14.3 million in cash on hand, rolled over from previous elections.” That’s $10 for every one person who lives in the Bronx, and $20 for every person who lives in the district. But those days of Ritchie Torres being elected by dollar bills are over. “Buy the truth, and do not sell it,” says Proverbs 23. The Truth defies silence, and you, the War Party, won’t get me to sell out the Truth. 

Jerusalem Post Puts Out Hit-Piece on Congressional Candidate Jose Vega—and on Lyndon LaRouche

Feb. 1—On Jan. 31, the major Israeli newspaper, the Jerusalem Post, decided to focus its sights on Independent New York Congressional candidate (Bronx-15thCD) Jose Vega, calling him “antisemitic” and part of the “cultlike” LaRouche movement. The lengthy article was picked up from the Jewish Telegraph Agency and uses the recent publication of a short video interview with Vega conducted by social media influencer Erik Warsaw. The authors of the article claim that Vega is attacking the Bronx’s wealthy Riverdale neighborhood’s Jewish community and making “antisemitic tropes.” This included referencing special effects which were edited into the video after the interview, apparently by interviewer Erik Warsaw, which suggestively highlighted yarmulkas being worn by incumbent Rep. Ritchie Torres while Vega was talking, and which had nothing to do with what Vega was saying.

The article, whose overall intent seems to be to promote incumbent Ritchie Torres in the upcoming election, also uses the opportunity to slander Lyndon LaRouche, whose movement Jose Vega has been active with. It falsely claims that LaRouche was a "Holocaust denier" and other slanders commonly used to attack him.