[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
Q: A video of you scolding the leader of Neturei Karta is currently going viral on YouTube. Can you give us the backstory on what happened?
A: Sure. The New York City Council’s Jewish caucus, chaired by Councilman Mark Levine, decided to hold a hearing on the anti-Semitic BDS movement last week. I actually came late to the six-hour hearing in the Council Chamber because I was chairing the Land Use Committee next door in City Hall’s committee room. As soon as my hearing was done, I rushed over to the hearing chaired by Council Member Helen Rosenthal. I got there just in time to hear the first of the pro-BDS panels. I heard a range of comments from supporters of the BDS movement. Some of what I heard amounted to ignorance, and some of it was clearly based on hatred of Jews, but none of their remarks stood up to any kind of scrutiny. While I was frustrated by many of the comments I wanted my colleagues to have the opportunity to respond. So I waited.
Q: Of all the pro-BDS comments you heard, why did you decide to speak out in response to the leader of Neturei Karta?
A: While I was at the hearing and waiting for my turn to ask questions of the panelists, I noticed a Hasidic man in full Hasidic dress – hat, beard, peyos and coat. The man was approaching all the witnesses that dripped the most hatred towards the Jewish state and people, and was introducing himself to them. At first I thought he must be challenging them, then I realized he was laughing with them and sharing common cause. So I turned to my staff and asked, “Who is that Hasidic guy thanking the most anti-Israel speakers?” And they told me, “Oh, he’s the head of Neturei Karta.”
A short while later, the man – whose name is Yisroel Dovid Weiss – got up and testified in front of me and my colleagues. One of the other panelists testifying alongside him, an imam, actually said something along the lines of, “Don’t listen to me; listen to the Rabbi” – as if Weiss or anyone affiliated with Neturei Karta actually represent the views of the Jewish community.
Q: And what did Weiss say to get you so fired up?
A: As soon as he began his testimony, he started spewing this horrible anti-Israel garbage, and saying blatant lies about Israel. Then, to try to give himself credibility, he said that all of Williamsburg was supporting him and that they are already boycotting Israeli products, boycotting the state of Israel.
Q: And that’s not true, is it?
A: Of course not! In fact the Satmar Rebbe have slammed Neturei Karta and said, “They are the [actual] enemies of Jews with their lies and slander.” Even worse, while listening to Weiss’ testimony, I discovered that this was the same Weiss who went to a Holocaust denial conference with anti-Semites like David Duke and the English Holocaust denier David Irving. When Weiss finished his statement by saying that the State of Israel is to blame for the hatred and murder of Jews, that was just too much for me.
Q: Yes. Weiss actually said, “We have been hated since the Zionist state has come…there has never been in history such an exacerbation of anti-Semitism since Zionism…this is bringing bloodshed.”
A: Exactly. As if the Jews were never persecuted or killed until the State of Israel was created. I simply had enough. And then he sat down on the floor to “mourn” the creation of the State of Israel. That’s when I decided I wouldn’t let him get away with his anti-Israel propaganda. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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10 Responses
even i dont agree with rabby weiss i dont agree with mr’ greenfeld either, most of his residence are opposing the state of isreal & holding its against hashem so he cant fight the opposite.
גוט געזאגט – well said!
Greenfield gave Weiss exactly what he wanted, free publicity.
This might sound a bit radical, but I question whether this Weiss guy is actually Jewish. I have no hesitation in suggesting that people should resist considering shidduchim with his family. The magnitude of hate is beyond anything that could emanate from a Yid.
Well done but you missed one opportunity to shot him down satmar Rebbe was saved by kestner and lived in isreal for several years
These animals are not worth our spit
IM SORRY BUT THAT LEST STATEMENT THAT SATMER RABBE WAS SAVED BT KESTNER IS A LIE ACCORDING TO THE RABBE R MICHEL BER WEISMANDEL TOO SO STOP
David – that was perfect.
Thank you!
Weiss actually said, “We have been hated since the Zionist state has come…there has never been in history such an exacerbation of anti-Semitism since Zionism…this is bringing bloodshed.”
The Big Zionist Lie, which gentiles (including Arabs) accept is that the Zionists are the new/real Jews and that they represent worldwide Jewry.
So, although Greenfield may not like Weiss’s statement, and there is no question that NK’s methods are wrong, this statement is simply objectively true.
The Arab world’s hatred of Zionists and, unfortunately, by extension Jews has certainly increased manifold because of the Zionists and has certainly brought much bloodshed, CH”V.
This is plain historical fact (and, for example, the Chevron Massacre only supports this fact), and it is sad to see Jews fooled by the Zionist idol to the point that they don’t see plain reality, regardless of their feelings towards Zionism.
#8,
As for you & your like-minded people, it’s garbage in- garbage out.
Chevron Massacre was pushed by the Mufti as an excuse to murder Jews because they spread the rumor that Jews wanted to take control of the Kotel. It was FRUM, not necessarily Zionists, who congregated at the Kotel, put up a mechitza and that enraged the murderers.
The Kastner Affair is being denied over again. The Satmar Rabbi was ON THAT TRAIN because of Kastner.
The greatest anti-Semitic period, the Holocaust, was followed by the greatest open miracle of 1948, and then in 1967.
This is the miraculous reality, whether anti-Semites hate Jews more for it, or because your twisted, sick shitta agree with it.
Other than the Arabs, you, the frum radical anti-Zionists, are the biggest liars on this planet.
You, the vicious anti-Zionist liars and revisionists forget a simple d’Oireisa- Midvar Sheker Tirchak.
Israel, the greatest Torah center on this universe, is here, and B”H growing and blooming every single minute.
You don’t want to see it because you’ve been poisoned-farsammt..!!
Greenfield is being disingenuous to pretend he didn’t know who Rabbi Dovid Weiss is on sight! Cheap political theatre!