Satmar Hasidim rally at UN over Israel's `cruelty` toward ultra-Orthodox
Satmar Rabbi: We have come here to publicize cry of our brethren who live under Zionist state oppression.
By Haaretz Service Tags: UN Zionism Israel newsMembers of the anti-Zionist Satmar Hassidic ultra-Orthodox community rallied outside the United Nations building in New York on Tuesday to protest against Israel's 'cruelty' toward ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Satmar Rabbi Nahum Samson Meyer, who spoke at the demonstration, said it was being held outside the UN because the global body "has always taken up the cause of oppressed peoples around the world.
"We have come here to publicize the cry of our religious brethren who live under Zionist state oppression," he said, referring to the running over of two ultra-Orthodox men by police cars in August during demonstrations against the Shabbat opening of a Jerusalem parking lot, and to the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox woman who allegedly starved her three-year-old son.
Meyer added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, had "no right to speak in the name of Jewry.
"As Netanyahu tells the world his views on the Middle East crisis, we wish to make clear that his state, which presumptuously calls itself Israel, has no connection with the Torah or with Judaism," he said.
"We call upon President Obama and all the esteemed leaders of the world not to recognize the Zionists as leaders of the Jewish people."
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If not for the zionists, you wouldnt have had now the privilege to access the holy land and worship at the HaKotel, your most beloved!
Satmar Hassidic are absolutely correct. The Israeli government has strayed from our historic principles and does not represent the Jews of the world. Although a homeland and refuge for some Jews, its treatment of Palestinians under the mantel of Judaism violates our traditions of truth and justice. The Israeli government has done damage which may take generations to remedy and heal.
The original Satmar Rebbe, Yoel Teitelbaum, opposed Zionism and the secular Israeli state -- BUT he never took part in public attacks on Israel that could harm Jews living there. In recent years Satmar publicly disowned Naturei Karts as 'outcasts'. This rally is therefore somewhat surprising -- as if Israel doesn't have enough problems !
The Satmar extreme line doesn't represent Hareidi opinion either.