There is much to Satmar that is praiseworthy and admirable. Reb Yoelish ZT”L created some great foundations for chesed etc. The trouble is that his shittos about Zionism were radical. Yet, he himself would be considered moderate to today’s Satmar attitudes. There are many stories that support this. What is most painful about this subject is that Torah and Chassidus point to fundamental values, such as the midos of Ahavas Hashem, Yir’as Shomayim, Chassidus – as in lifnim mishuras hadin, etc. You will not succeed in selling me the bill of goods that the anti-Zionism issue is greater than any of these. So what we are seeing is the reversing of priorities, where this anti-Israel stuff is given enough weight as to make it part of chinuch, substituting for the churban Bais Hamikdosh, and our obligation to make Ahavas Hashem the basis of our existence.
So I consider these people unfortunately sick, and pray for their refuah. But just as I do not do anything to support illness, neither physical or mental, I must decry the folly of this derech. I am neither pro- nor anti-Zionist. I will not exclude any of the 613 mitzvos, or anything else that is part of being a Torah true Jew because of this anti-Zionist rhetoric and nonsense. That’s where they are seriously ill.
Yes, it is a concern. There is one big problem with all this. They are not really espousing the shittoh of Reb Yoelish ZT”L. And the saying goes, אן איינרעדעניש איז ערגער ווי א קרענק.