Satmar court slams Neturei Karta

Are there limits to anti-Zionism? Typically anti-Zionist Orthodox sector issues condemnation of seven Orthodox Jews who attended Iranian Holocaust denial conference last week
Neta Sela

The Satmar Hassidism Court published an unprecedented statement calling on the public to disassociate themselves from the seven Neturei Karta members who visited Iran to attend the Holocaust denial conference this week.

The Satmar movement printed an official placard, with bold black lettering, publicly denouncing “fanaticism, and those committing insane acts to walk hand in hand with the Arabs.”

The court further ordered that the offenders be shunned and their actions be condemned. It slams the offenders for “joining in desecrating the name of the heavens.

The declaration expresses astonishment at how a few people “dared attend a special conference of the nations of the world that despise Israel (may the names of the evil rot), deny the Holocaust, and deny and belittle the immensity of the evil and murder of those killed for sanctifying the lord; they desecrated the name of the heavens.”

Residents of the Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim said that the Orthodox leaders could not stand the fact that those individuals who visited Iran identify themselves as Satmar Jews, and thus stain the name of Orthodoxy.

The Satmar Orthodox group is the largest Orthodox sector worldwide, numbering some 120,000 people, and holds adamant anti-Zionist views.

Yitzhak Weiss, an editor of a Hassidic journal, told Ynet: “The rabbinate issued the declaration to attack those Orthodox who represented Orthodox Judaism at the Holocaust denial conference. What they did there is a simple crime against humanity.”

ynetnews