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Last update - 00:00 25/09/2008
Ahmadinejad meets with ultra-religious, anti-Zionist Jews
By Reuters
Tags: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Israel 

A day after being accused of making anti-Semitic comments at the United Nations, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met a fringe group of ultra-religious Jews who seek the dismantling of the state of Israel.

"Zionism has greatly weakened and, God willing, it will be destroyed soon and then all Jews, Muslims and Christians can live peacefully with one another," Ahmadinejad told nearly a dozen rabbis from Neturei Karta International on Wednesday.

The group is a small anti-Zionist organization that says it adheres strictly to the Torah, the Jewish holy book, which it says forbids the establishment of a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah. It supports Palestinian sovereignty over the Holy Land and financial restitution for past losses.
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Its views are considered marginal by mainstream Jews who condemned Ahmadinejad's speech on Tuesday as anti-Semitic, as did several world leaders, human rights groups and U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Marty Irom, spokesman for the non-profit group the Israel Project, which promotes security and peace in Israel, said Neturei Karta was a "very tiny fringe group that represents only themselves." He said such meetings gave Ahmadinejad an "air of legitimacy which he should not have."

Ahmadinejad railed against "Zionist murderers" in his speech at the UN General Assembly, dwelling on what he described as Zionist control of international finance, echoing the libel that blamed a world Jewish conspiracy for all the world's troubles.

At Wednesday's meeting with the group, which also goes by the English name "Jews United Against Zionism," Ahmadinejad said Zionism was a political movement "that seeks wealth and power" and was "corrupting the earth."

Nearly a dozen rabbis dressed in the black garb of ultra-Orthodox Jews sat around a table with Ahmadinejad and his delegation and posed for photographs after the meeting in a Manhattan hotel.

"That we have the honor and privilege to meet with such a distinguished person who understands the difference between Zionism and Judaism is for us a tremendously happy occasion," the group's senior Rabbi, Moshe Ber Beck, told Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be wiped off the map. He has referred to the Holocaust as a myth and his government held a conference in 2006 questioning the fact that Nazis used gas chambers to kill 6 million Jews in World War Two.

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, spokesman for the group, said Ahmadinejad was no enemy of the Jewish people, that many thousands of Jews lived in Iran without persecution and that the Iranian president was not a Holocaust denier.

Ahmadinejad spoke about World War II in general terms as "one of the most abhorrent acts" in history. "Numerous crimes occurred against everyone," he said, through an interpreter.

Ahmadinejad ended by praying with the rabbis, saying: "God, please nullify the propaganda waged by the Zionists, and let them lose hope, and make victorious your deserved people."

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      1.   barr them and congregation forever from israel no longer part of 05:03  |  ralph 25/09/08
      2.   TO Ralph #1 05:32  |  Steve Beikirch 25/09/08
      3.   What are they thinking? 05:54  |  judith 25/09/08
      4.   # 3, JUDITH 08:01  |  indrajaya 25/09/08
      5.   but when they draw anti-Semitic cartoons 08:04  |  bob 25/09/08
      6.   They are the real Jews who follow the Torah 08:21  |  KMS 25/09/08
      7.   # 3, JUDITH No concerns forJews if Arabs take over 08:28  |  ALGERIAN 25/09/08
      8.   # 5, BOB 08:33  |  indrajaya 25/09/08
      9.   Let`s Just Call Them... 08:58  |  Yosemite 25/09/08
      10.   Anti Semites???? 09:01  |  wally 25/09/08
      11.   Pro=Ahmadinejad Jews - What A Great Joke!! 09:52  |  chet 25/09/08
      12.   Naturei Karta=Opus Dei 10:03  |  Shtarka 25/09/08
      13.   ALGERIAN Just one word for an answer...Dhimmi !! 10:04  |  PETER SM 25/09/08
      14.   Nateuri Karter = Piece Now, for KMS No 6 10:18  |  Harvey 25/09/08
      15.   # 14, HARVEY 10:45  |  indrajaya 25/09/08
      16.   Neturei Karta 10:54  |  Maerton 25/09/08
      17.   Isaeli Traitors 11:47  |  Edward Egnuss 25/09/08
      18.   peres on ahmadinejad speech 11:53  |  dani.a 25/09/08
      19.   `ultra-religious`? 12:47  |  Sherlock Holmes 25/09/08
      20.   Who gave them semicha? 12:54  |  Joe 25/09/08
      21.   Iranian Jews 13:00  |  Danny 25/09/08
      22.   waiting for the messiah, have fun! 13:06  |  Ita 25/09/08
      23.   #15 Indy bubbala WHY YOU HUMILIATE YOUSELF sic(K) 13:30  |  Ari ben Yisrael 25/09/08
      24.   #15 indrajaya 13:31  |  mark hammond 25/09/08
      25.   # 23, ARI BEN YISRAEL 14:03  |  indrajaya 25/09/08
      26.   #20 the same could be said about Shas 14:04  |  SJ 25/09/08
      27.   #21 Danny, not all Jews are Zionists 14:21  |  Boycott 25/09/08
      28.   Reply to # 15 15:32  |  Joseph 25/09/08
      29.   Ahmedinejad 07:53  |  Sudhir Reddy 26/09/08
      30.   Israel and Judeo Christian Values 08:40  |  Ari 26/09/08
      31.   Iran is a police state 00:29  |  Commonsense 28/09/08
      32.   #31 Dream on 08:05  |  sunday 28/09/08
      33.   Stop obsessing about this already! 08:30  |  Zvika 28/09/08
      34.   Listen to the physician in Iran 20:35  |  hollingsworth 29/09/08
      35.   Ahmadinejad meets with ultra-religious, anti-Zionist Jews 15:43  |  Eugene 12/02/09
      36.   tu much religion 01:30  |  Michelle 05/10/09
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