Posted on 12/13/2006 6:54:05 PM PST by yochanan
Rabbi Metzger: Boycott Neturei Karta participants of Iran conference
In dramatic, unusual step, Israel’s chief rabbi calls on world rabbis to deny Neturei Karta representatives who attended Holocaust denial conference, says ‘They betrayed the Jewish people, their heritage, disgraced the Shoah, desecrated its memory’
Neta Sela Published: 12.14.06, 02:36
Israel's Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger called on world Rabbis to reject Neturei Karta members who participated in the Holocaust denial conference in Iran , saying they “sabotaged Israel” and should not be allowed entrance to Temples.
Explanation
Neturei Karta: Iranians making logical claim / Neta Sela
Haredi Jews who attended Holocaust conference in Tehran express support for Ahmadinejad's ideas. According to their representative in Jerusalem: Iran's goal isn't to exterminate Israel, but to take action against Zionism. Holocaust survivor and former chief rabbi of Israel, Rav Israel Lau outraged: This is something intelligence can't tolerate Full Story
“They betrayed the Jewish people and their heritage and particularly disgraced the Shoah and desecrated its memory. They tried to stain the Jewish people, who shy away from this low behavior, with their shameful behavior,” Metzger said.
The chief rabbi called on all communities in Israel and around the world to reinforce the memory of the Holocaust amongst their community members. This dramatic step was significant because boycotts are rarely done, and only as a last resort.
According to Jewish law, only a court with a panel of at least three rabbinical judges has the power to start a boycott. Rabbi Metzger’s spokesman Arik Eliovitz told Ynet that the rabbi had “made the call on his own with out other rabbis”.
Israel Hirsch, a member of Neturei Karta living in the Meah Shaarim neighborhood of Jerusalem, who attended the conference explained, "The haredim who attended the conference for investigating the Holocaust in Iran share a common platform with Ahmadinejad when it comes to the so-called myth the Zionist movement created around the Holocaust.
"They wanted to make it clear in Tehran that Zionism uses the Holocaust as an excuse for the existence of the Zionist state in the Land of Israel," he said.
Hirsch continued, "Because the UN agreed to establish a state because of the Holocaust, the Iranians are claiming something very logical. They aren't saying that there wasn't a Holocaust, but who perpetrated the Holocaust? The Nazis, the Germans. So they should at least pay compensation to the Jewish nation and establish a Jewish state within Germany and not within the land of Israel, which belongs to the Palestinians."
Israel’s former chief rabbi, current Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau did not buy the explanations of the Jews who attended the conference.
“It is something completely insane. If it’s possible that there is any Jew, who for some reason or another can support a Holocaust denier in a generation where people with numbers tattooed on their arms are still among us – it’s an insanity that has no justification and no explanation,” he concluded.
Interesting. Informative. Educational. Thanks for posting.
Suicidal and beyond belief.
For those of us who don't know who these people are.....
Neturei Karta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neturei_Karta
Neturei Karta (Aramaic: ðèåøé ÷øúà; "Guardians of the City"), is a group of Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Jews who reject all forms of Zionism and actively oppose the existence of the State of Israel.
They are mostly concentrated in Jerusalem, with devotees in and around New York City, Ramat Bet Shemesh near Jerusalem, the Old City of Safed, and Bnei Brak. Estimates of their membership range from 5,000 to less than 1,000. Other groups associated with Neturei Karta, can be found in London, Vienna, Antwerp, New York City, and other parts of New York state.
Other Orthodox Jewish movements, including some who oppose Zionism, have denounced Neturei Karta's activities; according to The Guardian, "[e]ven among Charedi, or ultra-Orthodox circles, the Neturei Karta are regarded as a wild fringe". [1] Neturei Karta claims that the mass media deliberately downplays their viewpoint and makes them out to be few in number. Their protests in America are usually attended by a few dozen people. In Israel, several hundred is typical, depending on the nature of the protest and its location. [2]
Neturei Karta are sometimes mistakenly confused with Satmar Hasidim, due to their similar mode of dress, and some similarities in their anti-Zionist ideology.
(snip)
Is Norman Finkelstein in Tehran?
Another news story from the UK.
They sound like the Jewish version of the Phelps of Westboro "Baptist Church" infamy.
Ahron Cohen of Manchester is a leading member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement.
He believes that God would have saved the victims of the Nazis if they had deserved to live. Cohen said "when one suffers, the one who perpetrates the suffering is obviously guilty but he will never succeed if the victim did not deserve it in one way or another."
Would G-d have saved the victims of the Nazis if the victims had deserved to live or had not deserved to die for some reason?
I think any intelligent, rational person would recognize that the answer to this question has to be "No." G-d would not have saved the victims of the Nazis even if the victims had deserved to live, and G-d would not have condemned them to die even if they had deserved to die for any reason.
G-d does not operate that way. All you have to do is open your eyes and witness what happens every day. The guilty go unpunished and the innocent suffer. The only question is "Why did G-d create the world this way?"
I think that the Neturei Karta's failure to recognize this reality and address this fundamental question of justice is the reason they are so clearly amoral. And that is what I truly believe they are: ignorant, amoral animals, just like the Nazis were.
The question is "Why did G-d fill the world with ignorant, amoral animals who perpetuate injustice?"
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