Yisroel Dovid Weiss
Encyclopedia
Yisroel Dovid Weiss a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Haredi rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

, is an activist and spokesman for a branch of Neturei Karta
Neturei Karta
Neturei Karta is a Haredi Jewish group formally created in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, in 1938, splitting off from Agudas Yisroel...

, an anti-Zionist grouping of Haredi Jews. Based in Monsey, New York
Monsey, New York
Monsey is a hamlet , in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the state of New Jersey; east of Suffern; south of Airmont and west of Nanuet...

, he believes that observant Jews should peacefully oppose the existence of the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i state: "It would be forbidden for us to have a State, even if it would be in a land that is desolate and uninhabited."

Anti-Zionist campaigning

Weiss often speaks at rallies and conferences in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and internationally, criticizing Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...

. In 2001 he attended the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

-organized World Conference against Racism
World Conference against Racism
The World Conference against Racism are international events organised by the UNESCO to struggle against racism ideologies and behaviours. Four conferences have been held so far, in 1978, 1983, 2001 and 2009...

 in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 as part of the Islamic Human Rights Commission
Islamic Human Rights Commission
The Islamic Human Rights Commission is a non-profit organization. Its stated mission is to, "... work with different organizations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background.". The group is...

 delegation. During the conference, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Israeli delegates walked out in an unsuccessful attempt to silence condemnation of alleged institutional racism in Israel.

In an interview with Inminds.co.uk, a pro-Palestinian Website, Weiss stated that "We are always a thorn on their (Zionist) side... they are afraid of us...". Weiss also praised Iran, stating that:


"When we traveled to Iran, the humbleness we found ... it is a country where people are God fearing... they believe in God and they serve God... you can see the difference between that society and the society here - [depravity] is so great, where you have television, immorality, immodesty and so forth. Your children grow up with they say democracy but democracy originally meant freedom to serve God... but unfortunately today many are preaching freedom to exclude God, in other words free from God..."


In the same interview, Weiss stated that:


"The only reason the Zionists are able to hold the Jewish people in their grasp is because their propaganda machines are busy explaining to the Jews that it's too late, even if you're not a Zionist, the Arabs hate you so much today that if you return the land they will, God forbid, slaughter you, and that today is the strongest argument that they have to convince Jews to support their Zionist state. This is the trap the Zionists want people to fall into so it is important for the Muslim people to get out there and make it understood that it is not the danger that is being portrayed by the Zionists."


In November 2006, Weiss stated at a protest in New York City that:


"Zionism is a fundamentally heretical movement which denies the Divine imperative that Jews remain in exile until the day when all mankind will be miraculously redeemed."

Visit to Iran and stance on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

In December 2006 Weiss spoke at the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust
The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust was a two-day conference that opened on December 11, 2006, in Tehran, Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the conference sought "neither to deny nor prove the Holocaust.....

, held by the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian government in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

 which was described by media sources such as NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 as a gathering of Holocaust deniers
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...

. In his five minute speech, Rabbi Weiss addressed the issue of holocaust denial as well:

Now maybe I can say that at the discussion of the holocaust, I may be the representative, the voice of the people who died in the holocaust because my grandparents died there. They were killed in Auschwitz. My parents were from Hungary. My father escaped and his parents remained. He wasn't able to get them out of Hungary and they died in Auschwitz as were other relatives and all the communities that they knew. So to say that they didn't die, to me you can not say that. I am the living remnant of the people who died in the holocaust and I am here, I believe sent by God, to humbly say, simply to speak to the people here and say, 'You should know that the Jewish people died, and do not try to say that it did not happen. They did die!' There are people throughout the Jewish communities, still alive in their seventies and eighties and every one of them will tell you their stories. It is something which you can not refute, but that being said, it doesn"t mean that the holocaust is a tool to use to oppress other people.


Weiss states that though Israelis have used the Holocaust to gain sympathy and advantage, he does not believe the Holocaust toll is exaggerated. Weiss said that "The Zionists use the Holocaust issue to their benefit. We, Jews who perished in the Holocaust, do not use it to advance our interests. We stress that there are hundreds of thousands Jews around the world who identify with our opposition to the Zionist ideology and who feel that Zionism is not Jewish, but a political agenda...What we want is not a withdrawal to the '67 borders, but to everything included in it, so the country can go back to the Palestinians and we could live with them..."

Weiss has defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against accusations of anti-Semitism. In March 2006, Weiss released a statement to Iran's official IRIB radio in which he stated that: "it is dangerous deviation to pretend that the Iranian president is anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic. He is extremely friendly and he understands the difference between the Zionists and the Jews who do not embrace the state of Israel... We don't look at him as an enemy."

American Jewish organisations including Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America , is a Haredi Jewish communal organization in the United States loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel.-Functions:...

 and the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...

, issued statements distancing themselves from Weiss. The executive vice president of the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...

, Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, has called the group "embarrassing", and Rabbi Avi Shafran
Avi Shafran
Abraham Shafran is a Haredi rabbi who serves as the Director of Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America and who is Editor-at-Large of Ami . Agudath Israel was established to meet the needs and viewpoint of many Haredi Jews, while Ami, launched on November 24, 2010, promises to serve a broader...

, spokesman for Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America
Agudath Israel of America , is a Haredi Jewish communal organization in the United States loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel.-Functions:...

, called Neturei Karta's public display of affection for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "graphic and disgusting."

Since returning to the U.S. from the conference, Weiss and other individuals who attended have been ostracized by synagogues, denied service at kosher stores, and have been the subject of disparagement in some communities with strong Orthodox Jewish
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

 populations such as Brooklyn and Monsey. A demonstration outside a Neturei Karta synagogue on January 7, 2007 was met by a counter demonstration attended by "a much smaller contingent" of supporters of Rabbi Weiss.

Weiss's reaction to critics

Weiss states that the Jewish world has misunderstood the Neturei Karta actions. He said the organization did not appear at the conference to deny the Holocaust, but to draw a distinction between Zionists and Jews. Weiss stated that Ahmadinejad is not an enemy of the Jews, but is a "God-fearing man [who] respects the Jewish people and he protects them in Iran".

External links

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