A delegation from the radical anti-Zionist Neturei Karta organization met with Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Javad Zarif, during his during his visit to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Neturei Karta reports the delegation of 10 was received by the Iranian officials with “great respect”.
NK’s Yisroel Dovid Weiss used the opportunity to expressed his appreciation for Zarif’s “longtime friendship with Jewish people of his country and worldwide”. Weiss also expressed his gratitude for Tehran’s “protection” of its Jewish minority. While more than 60,000 Jews lived in Iran prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 according to the Iranian government, the 2011 census showed the population had dropped to under 9,000.
“This is a true example of the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, who was very clear in differentiating between Judaism and Zionism. Iran does this naturally, not for advertisement,” Weiss said.
He continued to explain how the State of Israel is a “false representation” of the Jewish people. “In a certain way, we can say that Zionism has been doing more harm to Jews over the past decades than it does to the Palestinians. Judaism teaches that leading others to sin is worse than murder. The most recent example of the Zionists leading others to sin is their forced draft law, under which they are attempting to force religious Jews to fight in their wars against other nations, which are forbidden in Judaism, and assimilate into their secular society,” Weiss said.
Weiss also lamented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at the United Nations General Assembly last month, during which he accused the Tehran regime of storing nuclear material for its weapons program, in an apparent violation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“We are tremendously pained by the ongoing Zionist provocations against Iran. During Netanyahu’s speech to the UNGA, in which he spoke sharply against Iran, we held public demonstrations stating that he and his state do not speak in the name of world Jewry.”
[VIDEOS: NYC Man Tells Neturei Karta “America Needs Jews Just Like You!”]
Weiss explained what he believes is a difference between Judaism, a religion, and Zionism, a brand of nationalism, and he explained that “authentic Jewry” never accepted Zionism or the existence of the State of Israel. He showed the Iranians a copy of a declaration to the United Nations on July 16, 1947, by Rabbi Yosef Zvi Dushinsky, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, stating: “We furthermore wish to express our definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.” Other related documents were also presented.
After Weiss concluded his remarks, the delegation presented Zarif with a gift, as a sign of the group’s continuing “friendship” with the Islamic republic.
Weiss read the text inscribed on the decorative metal plate:
“With the help of the Almighty.To Your Excellency Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a token of appreciation for your exceptional and continuous friendship to the Jewish people worldwide. From a delegation of Rabbis of the anti-Zionist Jewish community of New York. Presented by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta International, October 5, 2018.”
On his part, Foreign Minister Zarif said: “It is an honor for me to continue our long friendship with believers, people who worship no one but G-d, versus those who seek to dominate others. We admire your stance against oppression; we have always been on good terms with the Jewish people. As you are well aware, there are Jewish communities in almost every major city in Iran, and despite Zionist propaganda to induce Jews to leave our country, Iran still has the largest Jewish population in the Middle East outside of the Holy Land. Also, it is well known that Iran grants a representative in parliament for the Jewish citizens, despite the fact that they don’t have the required numbers necessary for a parliamentary representative.
“We have nothing but respect for the Jewish people and the Jewish religion.
“We pray that the aberration of Zionism should no longer continue and they should no longer misuse the name of Judaism or the holy books of Judaism. We are aware that Benjamin Netanyahu is misinterpreting the book of Esther in order to encourage conflict.
“We pray for peace in the Holy Land, we should all be able to serve G-d there with no oppression, as it should be in the Holy City and the Holy Land – and Jews should be able to practice their religion free of persecution.”
At the conclusion of the meeting Dr. Zarif requested that a member of the Jewish delegation conclude with a prayer. Dovid Feldman expressed a prayer to the Almighty for world peace: “All people, regardless of their origin and regardless of where they live, should be able to live in peace and security.”
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24 Responses
May these NK anti-semites be eliminated from the gene pool. There is ample reason to question their ancestry. To ally with the enemy cannot be honestly connected in any way with Yiddishkeit or Ratzon Hashem.
Why does The Yeshiva World give these murderers a forum for their crimes? They should be ignored. They only do these for attention.
There are 3 guys talking to Zarif on the couch. The clown on the right doing the talking (he might be the only one who knows a little English) seems to be wearing one of those small prayer shawls you see the Reform and Conservative Jews wearing at their services. On the assumption (?) that the NK are in fact Jewish, I would recommend that they invest in getting one of the larger tallesim wore by mainstream Yidden.
וכל איביך מהרה יכרתו
Niturei Karta = Amalek
They certainly do not deserve such publicity.
And it’s a disgrace to call them Neturei Karta. Neturei Karta had and has some highly responsible, serious and respected leaders such Reb Amrom Blau and many others. These irresponsible idiots have no right to hijack such a name of a basically choshuve movement even if I don’t agree with them.
Of course there will many hundreds of comments condemning the Netura Karta and we know that Satmere Rebbe zt”l always spoke out against Netura Karta , he hated people who spoke in the name of Juadism without any approval of the Rabbunim in the world. Those men might have valid points about the State of Israel but NOT in front of a Country that calls for the extermination of the Jewish nation and denies that the Holocaust ever happened.
Why does Israel detain some American Student that may be involved with BDS Movement But ignore these true Jew Haters that meet and incite the worst enemy of the Jewish People since Hitler YM”SH. Arrest each one of them and lock them up for 150 years each. Even US should get involved if they’re US Citizens.
IS ANY ROSH YESHIVA OR WELL KNOWN RAV OPENLY GOING TO CRITICIZE JEWS DRESSED AS CHAREDI PUBLICLY MEETING WITH OYVAI YISROEL?!?!? WE ONLY SEEM TO HEAR WHEN CRITICISING ISRAEL!?!?!? WHY IS LAKEWOOD OR THE LOWER EAST SIDE OR FLATBUSH OR ISRAEL SILENT IN SUCH CASES. IS MEETING WITH OYVAI YISROEL OKAY ACCORDING TO AN ACCEPTABLE SHITA?
Since they are no Mikvahs there, the stench in the room must have been unbearable for the Iranians.
That’s not one of those reform prayer shawls the man is wearing, but rather a keffiyeh, the kind of scarf that their friemd Arafat wore. They apparently don’t have tzitzis on, perhaps out of respect for the Arabic garment.
Don’t they usually go to Iran to bestow their greetings?
When is Iran going to discover that Niturei Karta is really spies for Israel?
KShomron: It is one of those Palestinian scarves that Leftists wear to show solidarity against Israel. Look at pictures of Arafat &c.
IS NETUREI KARTA FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS?
This was a major coup that mossad got men into the iranian building publicly meeting with the forein minister
crazy mental perverts! they are rejected by the greater Jewish communities yet they persist in their stupidity!
total idiots!
Even if one disagreed with Israeli politics it is unacceptable to do ones washing in public
When Moshe Rabaynoo said
Ochain noyda ess ha dovor
Some explain he then understood why we had to suffer in Egypt
Because we slandered
Trust this is correct?
May moshiach redeem us quickly
pull up the barnum & bailey circus wagons and load them all in
These nut jobs are just doing it for the thrill of the notoriety and attention. Stop playing into their hands by reporting this junk.
RE: rabbonin & roshei yeshiva speaking out against NK. Do you think NK could care less what any rav or rosh yeshiva says? Do you think that all the rabbonim and roshei yeshiva have to do all day is read YWN’s reports on them? Instead, stop the headline reports about them — as if it was the most important news item of the day /hour. At the end of the day, these NKs are attention-seeking nobodies and ought to be treated as such.
It is about time that the whole world realize once and for all that Neturei Karta, Satmar, and all other similar guru centered lunatic communities are not Judaism!
They are mindless cults that idolize ignorance and stupidity!
Their ignorance extends to Jewish subjects as well and it is abysmal. They do not understand Halacha (Minha 20 min after the shkia!) do not know Tanach, pray in pidgin Hebrew and have no knowledge of the language.
What these psychopaths are practicing is not Judaism–it is a perpetual costume carnival (cum mafia)!
It is no wonder that they always turn up in the middle of hillul hashem scandals — they have no real Torah.
I really pity their children who are deprived of both worlds.
As far as their leaders are concerned, I will grant them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are mentally unbalanced, and not something worse.
A very orthodox litvak
Benk, self hating jew as usual.
Benk is a seemingly anti yeshivish, anti frum, miserable person.
If you dont listen to the “roshei yeshiva,” or “learn torah,” how are you supposed to hear them condemn the neturei karta?
My roshei teshuva have always condemned them. It isnt their job to call a press conference to do so. They also have condemned reform and conservative Judaism. It isnt their job to call a press conference over every thing that they condemn.
They also condemn people like you, who are virulent haters of Frum people.
Once again, refuah sheleima.
Is k for kohn?
American yerushalmi a) some roshei yeshiva publicly protested israel regarding the draft. Is speaking out publicly only to criticise and not defend millions of yidden!? B) shtika khodaa?
Ben K Ben k, you need a henky, cuz your brain fluid is dripping from your nosy.
You closing off your ears to the roshei yeshiva, does not mean shtikah kihodaah. What it does mean is that you need a good qtip for your clogged ears.
The roshei yeshiva do speak out against neturei karta, but they dont need to do so every time yeshiva world posts an article. They are not bound by yeshiva world, and if you think they are, that makes sense, as your power of critical thinking is a strong flatline right now.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Nurse: Doctor, we are losing him!
Doctor: yes, brilliant, that is what beeeeeeeeep means….you dont need to tell me that we are losing him….sheesh
American yerushalmi, do you think your words mean anything to an anti torah person like benk?
Just like an old fool of a liberal, logic and common sense does not compute. You can’t fix stupid.
no body should think thats the Derech from the satmar rabbi zts”l. thats totaly against the Das Torah of him, who ever remember him can confirm that.