Monsey rabbi defends Holocaust conference participation
A rally has been scheduled for next week to show support for Holocaust survivors in emotional pain over Iran's Holocaust denial conference and the participation of a Monsey rabbi who belongs to an anti-Israel religious group.
It's the first of two planned locally in the next few weeks in reaction to the participation of Monsey Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss in a conference for Holocaust deniers hosted by Iran this week. Though Weiss said the Holocaust is fact, his attendance at the conference has been fiercely denounced.
Weiss belongs to Neturei Karta, a group of Hasidic Jews who oppose the existence of Israel on religious grounds and who believe Jews should live under Arab Muslim rule until the Messiah comes.
The first rally will be at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the Holocaust Museum and Study Center, 17 S. Madison Ave., Rabbi Michael Gisser, the museum's executive director, said yesterday.
"Really, this is something in support of the community, but more so of our survivors here," Gisser said. "When people deny the Holocaust, it's denying their memories, their testimonies, what they went through."
Speaking in a telephone interview from Tehran last night, Weiss defended his participation in the conference, saying he told conferees that the Holocaust was fact.
His presence at the conference was meant to seek a solution to the impasse, and to stop the Holocaust from being used as a tool to prevent conciliation, he said.
Saying he lost grandparents in the Holocaust, Weiss added: "My blood cooks at the hurt and the suffering of the Jewish people because it's my blood, and of course, we feel it. Whoever wants to say that they suffer any more than I do ... they have no right to say that.
"My blood is palpitating with fear to what will happen to the remnants of Jews because of the ongoing incitement of the Zionists and the intimidation ... of the Muslim people," he said.
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Posted by Chaptzem to Chaptzem Blog! at 12/15/2006 12:45:00 PM
