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Last update - 00:00 01/01/2007
Fire destroys Neturei Karta synagogue, rabbi's residence in Monsey, N.Y.
By The Associated Press

A fire deemed suspicious destroyed a New York suburban synagogue of an
anti-Zionist Jewish group heavily criticized for attending a conference last year where participants debated whether the Holocaust occurred.

No one was injured in Sunday night's fire in the town of Monsey. A senior Neturei Karta rabbi and his family, who lived on the top floor of the three-story structure, were not home.
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"It may in the future be found to be accidental, but at this time we're treating it as a suspicious fire and we're investigating it as such," said Sgt. Daniel Hyman of the Ramapo Police Department, which provides services to Monsey, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) north of New York City.

The Neturei Karta has been the target of threats in the recent past because of their involvement in the anti-Zionism movement. The group has been widely criticized by other Jewish groups.

"Anybody who would like to reveal to the world their opposition to this political, national movement of Zionism is attacked," said Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of the Neturei Karta.

"A call of a fire in the kitchen area of the three-story structure came in to authorities at about 8:12 P.M. Sunday," Monsey Fire Chief Douglas Perry said.

He said that when firefighters arrived, one side of the house was engulfed in flames and power lines had come down. "It was too dangerous for any entry," he said, and the fire had to be fought from the outside.

"It's totaled," Perry said. "I would deem it dangerous to even go inside."

Weiss said that the group suspects arson because of previous threats.

"There's no question that the issue is to stifle the opposition to Zionism," he said.

In December, about five members of the group traveled to Tehran for a two-day conference convened to debate whether the Holocaust occurred. Some were photographed meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called the Holocaust a myth and has criticized the existence of Israel. Other Jewish groups were outraged.

Following the group's return from Iran, a large protest made up mostly of other Jews opposing their anti-Zionist views was held outside the Monsey synagogue. Neturei Karta refuses to recognize the existence or authority of Israel on the grounds that a sovereign Jewish state is contrary to Jewish law.

"The group does not dispute that the Holocaust occurred," Weiss said
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  1.   Quiet 00:01  |  Ephraim 01/01/07
  2.   what fire? 00:15  |  blackhat 01/01/07
  3.   A mighty Hand 00:20  |  Harold 01/01/07
  4.   The Big Question is ... 00:23  |  Curious Mind 01/01/07
  5.   Scandalous... 00:32  |  Meir Moses 01/01/07
  6.   Remember the burning of the Reichstag building 00:57  |  Ari ben Yisrael 01/01/07
  7.   It was wrong 00:05  |  dati-girl 01/01/07
  8.   Terrorism! 00:10  |  Naom 01/01/07
  9.   Starange logic? - Or abseence of logic? - Stupidity vs. Logic? 00:53  |  Vittorio 01/01/07
  10.   Meir Moses @ #5 00:30  |  Akiva Patysh, Tzioni 01/01/07
  11.   Naomi #8 read this! 00:01  |  Avrum 01/01/07
  12.   Oh how mighty 00:06  |  David 01/01/07
  13.   ENOUGH OF THIS! 00:27  |  Paul Revere 01/01/07
  14.   NK 00:47  |  Jewbacca 01/01/07
  15.   Haredim??? 00:54  |  Jew 01/01/07
  16.   Unfortunate, but I dont feel sorry for them 00:24  |  David G 01/01/07
  17.   Modern Zionism is political and secular 00:27  |  Douglas Evans 01/01/07
  18.   Pretty sad...makes you wonder... 00:28  |  SAm 01/01/07
  19.   #7 not logic 00:29  |  anne 01/01/07
  20.   #8 traitors to the Jewish people 00:33  |  anne 01/01/07
  21.   nothing to do with zionism 00:33  |  The Shaigetz 01/01/07
  22.   Kitchen Fire 00:28  |  Edi 01/01/07
  23.   NK 00:24  |  Jewbacca 01/01/07
  24.   NK must be on to something from the responses here 00:08  |  Menno 01/01/07
  25.   "Wiping Israel off the map" 00:10  |  Jonathan 01/01/07
  26.   Fire destroys Neturei Karta Synagogue,Rabbi`s residence in NY 00:01  |  cuda 01/01/07
  27.   Of course Zionists did this. 00:57  |  Steve 01/01/07
  28.   Fire at Neturei Karta 00:15  |  Philippe 01/01/07
  29.   We do not know yet but... 00:44  |  Alan Heath 01/01/07
  30.   Re: Oh how mighty 00:02  |  Yonathan 01/01/07
  31.   cherem 00:04  |  uzi 01/01/07
  32.   Secular, Schmecular 00:14  |  anangryjew 01/01/07
  33.   Kitchen Fire????????? 00:53  |  Starjack 01/01/07
  34.   Heil Neturei Karta 00:30  |  Hermann Scholl 01/01/09
  35.   Do our enemies discriminate? 00:48  |  Robert 01/01/09
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