Satmar And The Holocaust,Editorial Board

The spectacle of several men in chassidic garb participating in last week's Tehran conference of notorious anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers made front-page news around the world. And therein lies the real story - not primarily that Jews would be part of such a thing, though that is an obvious attention-getter.

No, the real story is that they and the handful of people they represent are still taken seriously by anyone. Indeed, the publicity engendered by their Tehran sojourn resulted from the myth that they speak for sizeable numbers in the chassidic community.

This is not the first time this group has harvested a bumper crop of headlines. They make news each time they meet with Palestinian representatives to pledge their support for their plans to eradicate the Jewish state. They had a close and loving relationship with the arch-terrorist and serial killer of Jews Yasir Arafat, whose death they publicly mourned. They routinely demonstrate with the most vociferous haters of Israel and America and lend comfort and support to the very people who would slit their throats in a nanosecond if given the opportunity.

Sadly, these outrages never led to any public censure from the Satmar community in which they claimed membership and with whom they were popularly identified. And so the perception persisted that there was an appreciable constituency and also a home for this craziness.

Thankfully, this has now changed. Strong condemnatory statements that should have come long ago have been issued by the Satmar community. Rabbi Hertz Frankel, a Satmar spokesman, said it best, calling the individuals who traveled to Tehran "self-hating" and saying "They need to be denounced and they need to be ostracized - and finally, everyone has come to that conclusion."

Amen to that.

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Satmar And The Holocaust , Editorial Board

In Contrast with the Jewish Press
Date 10:12, 12-21, 06

In contrast with the responsible Torah-oriented coverage of this story in The Jewish Press, a Chilul HaShem is caused by Israeli newspapers and Web sites which display photographs of those who were placed in Cherem (dressed in Charedi clothing) shaking hands with or otherwise participating in meetings with the Iranian Amalek, Ymoch Shmo. The misleading impression these media outlets intend to create is that Torah Jews sympathize -- Rachmanah Litzlan -- with Sonei Yisrael.
Accordingly, I respectfully request that the Rabbanim SHLITA warn the offending media to cease and desist from such activity; otherwise, they and their newspapers and Web sites will also be placed in Cherem.
We hope and pray that the Ribono Shel Olam will look favorably upon his faithful Bnei and Bnos Torah and end our suffering soon with the Bias Goel Tzedek...