Thousands of Orthodox Jews are targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, DC, demanding Netanyahu to stop Archaeological excavations and construction in the Holy Land that is desecrating ancient Jewish cemeteries in gross violation of Jewish law. The leaders also denounced the Israeli police’s beatings of peaceful demonstrators protesting the clearing of five ancient cemeteries and continued action to empty a cemetery in Jaffa in order to construct a hotel.
Rabbi Lazar Stern, a spokesman for Asra Kadisha, a worldwide group dedicated to protecting the integrity of Jewish cemeteries, said the leaders plan to protest outside the White House, and to deliver petitions to the Israeli embassy, during Netanyahu’s July 6th visit
The Central Rabbinical Congress, which represents Orthodox Jewry, helped organize the day of protest in Washington in support of Asra Kadisha.
“We believe that the desecration of the dead could bring grave danger to the living,” said Rabbi Stern.
Asra Kadisha has brought international pressure to bear in their efforts to stop the desecration of cemeteries throughout Europe – most recently in Spain, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine – and finds it unbearable painful that similar desecration’s are taking place in the Holy Land.
Dr. Bernard Fryshman, of the Conference of Academicians for the Protection of Jewish Cemeteries, reported that suitable engineering alternative had been provided to all of the burial sites recently excavated in Ashkalon, Nazareth and now in Jaffo.
“For a Jew to desecrate the cemetery of a Jew is shocking,” said Fryshman. “It’s time for the Israelis and the Americans to step in and stop this desecration and stop the beatings of those who have risen up in righteous protest.”
Rabbi Dovid Schmidl, head of Asra Kadisha, described lengthy negotiations attempts with the Elektra Company & RFR Reality, key investors in the developments on the sites of the excavated graves.
“They refused many practical alternatives to enable the protection of the graves. We never had a similar situation of so many cemeteries being blatantly desecrated,” he said.
Rabbi Lazar Stern, speaking from New York described the use of tear gas against octogenarian Rabbis and Sages a characteristic of some of the world’s most repressive regimes.
“There is no other civilized nation in the world which permits the brutal excavation of ancient cemeteries, nor is there anyone else that would use tear gas against leading Rabbis like the members of the B’DATZ.”
Plans call for a delegation of Orthodox leaders to go to the Israeli embassy at 1 PM to deliver a petition signed by 50,000 Orthodox Jews calling on the government to stop the continued clearing and desecration of the cemeteries.
The leaders will then join an anticipated 2,500 others in a march at the White House, where Netanyahu will be meeting with President Obama.
Then, a delegation will deliver to the State Department a petition to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to intercede in calling for an end to the cemetery desecration’s, in line with the dictates of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad which has lent its voice in support of efforts to stop similar desecration’s around the world.
That petition to be delivered to the State Department urges the department to raise “a voice of conscience” against the immoral campaign by the Israeli authorities to physically crush all voices of opposition to the equally wrong uprooting of centuries-old Jewish burial sites.
NOTE: Satmar of Kiryas Yoel, under the leadership of the Rebbe, Rav Aron Tietlebaum Shlita led a protest in Manhattan in early June. Click HERE for that story, photos & videos.
(Asra Kaddisha Press Release)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
38 Responses
I don’t even know what to say anymore…except that there is a time and place for everything. Now is not the time for the world to see how fractured the Jewish community is!
I agree that the grave desecrations are a grave matter…but for some reason, Satmar has a tendency of showing up on just the wrong days to protest their agenda.
Hopefully the heat wont keep them there for long
The Israeli government does PLENTY of things that are wrong, both halachically, AND politically.
Nevertheless, we should not be “washing our dirty laundry in public”.
Protests in front of Bibi’s home or office in Yerushalayim (conducted in a menschlich way!) ARE ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE, but…
In front of the umos ha’olam we should show ONLY UNITY, especially NOW during the three weeks!
im sick to my stomach. ENOUGH CLEANING OUR DIRTY LAUNDRY TO UMOT HAOLAM. What good will it bring crying to edom and your not religious brothers. PATHETIC. Wake up SATMAR.
Are these 2,500 Jews unemployed or did they take a day off without pay?
I wish they would organize such protests for Gilad Schalit as well.
#5 beleive it or not, they took a day off with out pay! and we give them alot of credit for this sacrifice even on a hectic day like today after coming back to work after the holiday.
#4 We are trying to “CLEAN” the laundry that the descecrators have “DIRTIED BEFORE THE UMOT HAOLAM”. It has been tried time and again with negotiations in a diplomatic way. By now there is no choice but to ask for mercy from our American diplomats to step in and help us out.
I am so sick to my stomach of these silly protests. We should be showing achdus to the umos haolam!!
One thing we can learn from the Emanuel incident is that when it REALLY is an issue ALL the Gedolim will show up. Note that ONLY Satmar is showing up here. No American Gedolim aside from Satmar.. So pray tell, is this really the Torah view..
How would these ppl feel if I would protest in front of the Tax dept or Welfare dept in protest of all the work done off the books in order to get foodstamps, WIC and section 8… dina malchusa k’din who!
Being that currently most comments so far are biased in one direction, i feel the urge to add my own two sense.
yes, it is the three weeks, yes, we should be showing unity to the world and no, we should not be hanging out dirty laundry in front of the umot haolam, and yes, some protesters may get a little hot under the bekeshes due to yhe wonderful weather, all this is true…..
BUT!!!!!!! and it is a rather big but!
Netanyahu and his cronies dont really Chinese from the village trying to talk to some Australian Aboriginie, they just talk a differnet language. no insult to either of them!! (the Chinese and Aboriginie)
See what happened when the MK’s asked him to intervene in Emmanuel, it was like talking to a brick wall, so when the orthodox talk about not desecrating graves, he just doesnt understand.
but come along a Turk who cant talk English or Hebrew and he demands the release of terrorsits who had breached Israeli law and harmed Israeli soldiers and somehow they get immediate release from jail, no questions even asked. obviously the turk talks the right language!!!!
so maybe under the circumstances there is no choice but to ask the Goyim to intervene, this shameless sinner who pretends not to know the Jewish law and language, maybe must be spoken to in a goyshe language that the orthodox just dont talk. maybe due to a lack of commmunication the gentiles are the only language he understands.
i am not saying it is the right thing to do to demonstrate in public, let the gedolim decide that, but i am saying that there is another side to the coin!!!
One thing i am sureabout is that the Gedolim are not writing comments on YWN!!!!
please do not say such a blatant lie. The Central Rabbinical Congress, which never represents Orthodox Jewry. they only look out for there own issues.
#4 if you are sick to the stomach I recomend you take some thumbs or go to a professional doctor
#9- Boy did the court listen when there was a PEACEFUL protest IN ERETZ YISRAEL…. that protest is the FIRST one that was actually done like Bnei Torah should act. But there is NEVER an excuse for protesting AGAINST a jew in PUBLIC.
Notice how the Gedolim didn’t come out for the Barzilai protests IN EY!!!! They only came out at the protest for Emanuel. That says VOLUMES!!! Unless the Gedolim are taking part then it means absolutely nothing. If it were truly important then they would come. As we saw with the protest about Emanuel.
Let the Satmar settle their OWN problems before they get into the problems of the Israelis and they have got plenty problems of their own!
This week’s Torah parsha states a MITZVAH D’ORAISA in BAMIDBAR 33:53 – “Take possession of the land and settle there”. See Ramban to BAMIDBAR 33:53 and Pischei Tshuva 75:6 in Shulchan Aruch Evan HaEzer.
Ironically U.S. Chareidi anti-Zionist groups are protesting in Washington this week against Netanyahu and what they call the “Tsiyonim Apikorsim”.
Its astounding that during a Torah parsha calling for settlement of Eretz Yisrael, frum American Jews will surge out of their comfortable mansions to protest against Jews who have been MOSER NEFESH to settle the land of Israel !!!
I don’t believe for a second that most of these protestors really care about graves of probable non-Jews being disturbed. These protestors have a different agenda than graves – their agenda is denying any Jewish right to Eretz Yisrael, and denying any MITZVAH to settle Eretz Yisrael, all the while screaming about the “Tsiyonim Apikorsim” !
Public protests against Netanyahu by frum Jews who challenge our rights to Eretz Yisrael provide Obama and the anti-semites in the US government a political green light to further oppress the Jews of Eretz Yisrael.
Any resemblance here to the incident of Bar Kamtza in Masechta Gittin who incited the Roman Emperor against the Jews?
History shows, that the only effective weapon to stop the Zionist attempts of uprooting the Torah since the creation of the so called state of Israel, has been mass demonstrations, going back to the 1950’s, when they had to back off the drafting of females into the army, and then in the 1960’s when they had to abandon the infamous swimming pool in Jerusalem, and so on.
THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND ANY OTHER LANGUAGE!!! If you need any proof, you don’t have to look back to far, did pleading, begging, accomplish anything in the Emanuel debacle ??? NO ! NO! NO !
Also don’t ignore the fact that back then, the holy Chazon ish and the Holy Brisker Rov wholeheartedly supported those protests.
Unfortunately as the holy Satmar Rov foresaw, all those who accept monetary support from the Zionist government are indebted to the Zionists and can’t protest against them.
Can anybody explain why the entire torah world didn’t do ANYTHING to stop the desecration of the cemeteries in Israel ? There are clear Talmudic passages that discuss the terrible calamity to befall us as a result of desecrating graves, isn’t any litvishe ,or Sephardic gadol familiar with those gemoras?
Answer is found above……
I am a 4th generation proud Satmar Chusid, My great Grandfather came to the great USA in 1948 at age 70, and became one of the holy Satmar Rebbe’s first followers.
Now you can all go ahead and call me a lazy good for nothing, food stamp bum…… yada yada yada….
Let’s see some intelligent posts, instead of name calling.
BTW , I BH own a professional consulting firm in Manhattan & employ 20 + people , and I pay more then $200,000 in annual taxes.
Everyone is missing a big point here. Asra Kadisha has been very successful throughout Europe, using quiet negotiations, in having those governments stop the uprooting of holy cemetaries. Quiet negotiations, I am sure, were attempted in Israel as well. If Asra Kadisha can’t stop Israel from desecrating these holy places, why should the Eurpoean governments be any better. Believe me, those governments are watching this develop. In that respect, this is already out in the open before the Umos Ha’olam and Israel is the one creating the chillul Hashem, not Satmar.
Involving the umos ha’olam in our internal issues has been a terrible idea going all the way back to the days of the Tana”ch.
NOTHING good EVER comes out it.
The umos ha’olam could NOT care less about our religious issues like desecration of kevarim, ashkenaz/sefard schools, etc. All these demonstrations do is fuel the fires of anti-semitism by giving the goyim “raiyos” of why they should hate us… “see” they say, “the Jews can’t even get along with EACH OTHER!!!”
As a person who has traveled extensively through Eastern Europe and have seen first hand the destruction of Jewish cemeteries, I am shocked beyond belief that this is taking place, in the Eretz HaKodesh.
How can we ask countries like Poland, Hungary, and Romania to protect our cemeteries and the rights of our ancestors, when Jews themselves are guilty of such desecration ?
It boggles the mind and just goes top show how bankrupt Zionism is. They are no better than the Arabs who destroyed Har Zeisim. A life without Torah is no life at all !
The day of the Flotilla incident Satmar Monroe held a protest in the city and were rightfully opposed by most commentators on this site. Most comments however also wrote that as to the issue, they agreed with Satmar and all Righteous Jews that the Israeli Government must be stopped but that it was the wrong time to protest.
Today is a far better day as the issue is not in front of the world and our community is less likely to be exploited by our detractors.
Ideally, we never will have to protest and for some of us that may always be the case, but we cant forever say “not now”.
Reminder: Agudah was founded to combat Zionism. Chareidim “owning” and defending the Zionist state, as most of these comments show, are the greatest chilul Hashem.
IF it is so important to protest, why don’t Rav Elyosev and Rav Steinman and other Admorim send out their people?
It must be that the REAL gedolie hador that are busy with helping klal yisroel (not only protesting) understand that protesting isn’t the way!
Can someone list what did The Eideh hacharedis do good for klal yisroiel besides for putting our money in their pockets?
Did they bring baalei tsuvah?
Do they run the Vaad hazduleh?
Did they support Hazuleh in israel, or they opposed reb moshe halberstam of supporting hatzuleh?
Did they buid mikvaoth?
Do they help Cholim like Yad sarah, ezrah lemarpe- rabbi furer Belz, rfuah vchaim-vizniz?
Do they support kollim like dirshu?
What what what do they do besides for chilul hashem?
Nobody is defending Zionism. But we will not defend the Satmar either. They do not care about no graves . They care about the funding that they want to make sure to keep.
1. Regarding the Barzilai-Ashkelon graves – it should be noted that some very prominent Rabbanim were in the opinion that the graves should be evacuated. Asra Kadisha took a stringent stand and it is of course their full right. However the facts should be known. By now it is almost certain that the graves there were of gentiles. A”K opposed the evacuation even is this was true, claiming that this will give Europian governments a good excuse to uproot Jewish cemeteries.
2. Agudah did do a lot in opposing the Barzilai evacuations. Dep. Health Minister Litzman led a vigorous fight, but was forced to give by PM Netanyahu who serves as Health minister as well.
3. The Eidah-Satmar has brought upon itself a great tragedy. The fact is that they have no control on their people and all the demonstrations they initiate turn into wild hooliginism. This is a fact. There is no logical explanation for the burning of garbage cans and blasting of traffic lights in the chareidi neighborhoods as a ‘punishment’ for the governments sins.
All this has caused the Chareidi mainstream to keep away from all the Eidah-Satmar demonstrations. Before the Emanuel demonstration the askanim promised that there will be no hooliganism. The media didn’t believe the chareidim are able to organize a respectful demostration. When this indeed happened there was great Kidush Hashem! Let the Eidah-Satmar learn how to demonstrate and the rest of Klal Yisrael will be there at their side.
# 23
Your post is full of inaccuracies and loshan horah, I will dissect your 3 paragraphs showing you were you erred.
#1
Isn’t the issue you write that the European governments should refrain from desecrating the thousands of Jewish cemeteries, reason enough to protest the Barzilai grave digging? Do you know that this in fact was flung upon a Asra kadisha asken I am acquainted with when he was in Hungary last week?!?!
The mayor of a small village asked him, why should we care about the Jewish cemeteries when in Israel, they are dug up!!
#2
You write that “the Agudah did a lot in opposing the Barzilai evacuations” what a sad joke!! You should rather say “the Agudah SPOKE a lot” they didn’t do anything, which also goes to show how much the Agudah accomplishes by sitting in the government coalition. Nothing, zero, nada.
#3
Please note that 99.9% of wild hooliganism at the demonstrations are perpetrated by American bums, look at the pictures , show me one picture portraying a Eidah –Satmar looking person committing an act of hooliganism, don’t search you wont find one.
This is the most vicious lie fabricated by the Satmar haters
LISTEN, ALL YOU WISE GUYS:
THE WHOLE POINT OF A PUBLIC PROTEST IS TO WASH NETANYOHU’S DIRTY LINEN IN PUBLIC, SO THAT–MAYBE–HE WILL WILL BE SHAMED INTO CLEANING UP HIS ACT.
HEY, WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT SACONUS NEFASHOS HERE!
THE ALTERNATIVE IS TO SHUT UP AND LET HIM DESECRATE EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY IN ERETZ YISROEL.
Pure waste of time and added anguish to the one above.
Dr. Bernard Fryshman, of the Conference of Academicians for the Protection of Jewish Cemeteries, WHO IS THIS GUY? WHO PAYS HIS SALARY AND PR? IS HE RELATED TO THE FRYSHMAN OF THE TORAH UMESORAH?
A lack of understanding of proper diplomacy practiced by Rav Scherer zt”l and others can fill paragraphs on why this demonstration is WRONG, EVIL and a Chilul Hashem. Do not be surprised when funds, grants, monies that are allocated to Jewish mosdos & communities get taken off the drawing board. THERE IS A CONNECTION….and it pays to follow the dots.
sorry charley but Bibi is asking for this. I support Bibi in most of what he is doing for Eretz Yisrael even though I not a zionist; however digging up graves and this cause and big big problem in Europe. I know first hand since 2 of my Friends are involved in Europe of saving cemeteries.
America is spending $15 million to preserve aushwitz and
you are against Satmer for yelling about digging grave??
WHat hap at Barzilai where they evcauated Holy graves and now are not going to build because of a tree!
The Satmars can stamp their feet, shriek gevalt and shame on Bibi all they want, but its to no avail. These KANOYIM fail to grasp even basic principles Chazal have taught us.
In Sanhedrin 102b we learn: “Why did Omri merit kingship (in Eretz Yisrael)? Because he added on a city to Eretz Yisrael.”
Omri was certainly one of the most wicked kings in Eretz Yisrael, and he did far worse transgressions than the so-called “Tsiyonim”. By fulfilling the mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael, Omri merited to rule over Eretz Yisrael.
Netanyahu, a non-chareidi Jew, was MOSER NEFESH to settle the land of Israel, and therefore merits to rule over it. The shreiking anti-Zionist Satmars will go home to their beloved cities in CHUTZ LA’ARETZ, having accomplished nothing from their protests, while Netanyahu will return to Eretz Yisrael to rule over it.
BUSHA ! BUSHA ! BUSHA! R’ Aaron Kotler Zt’l said ” In America Jews do not protest other Jews” NO MATTER WHAT THE CAUSE. Shame on those few sad soles who protested today. Perhaps next time they would actually take arms to fight and protest for important issues like Gilad Shalit. NO Gadol Yisroel Sanctioned this idiacy!!!
1)As long as the CRC allows companies to write on their products Yoshon when the CRC knows its not, they don’t represent me.
2) Electra not Elektra
shame on all of you for writing such letters did anyone see the picktures of our brothers since you all claim you are jewish your brothers as well being treated like by nazis
the person who got hit simchas torah died latley tell me did you do your part in protest or you sitting by laptop and writing stupid comments
as a jew who lives in lakewood im not satmar and not a chosidi want to say i must say shame on us for not going to protest against israel not today not before
our grand rabbis graves are being torn in israel the talmud we learn evry day
why dont you all stop writting stupid comments
if all this bothers you the truth hurts dosen it
Dear Doctor Avi (# 29)
Maybe if you would have studied English in Satmar, your spelling wouldn’t be so atrocious.
It seems that you are a talmid of Reb Aron Kotler Zatzal, so you probably study Rambam. Well according to the Rambam, Netanyahu would not classify as a Jew as he is a Mechalel Shabbos in Public and eats nevielus and treius, so the Satmars really didn’t protest against a Jew….
If you think I’m crazy , just look up what Reb Elchonen Wasserman Zatzal, wrote in the name of the Holy Chofetz Chaim regarding this very issue.
#32,what makes you so sure that Netanyahu eats treifus??? Have you ever seen the hechsher on his food? Doubt it. It might be rabbanut but still b’dieved.. How do you know that he has been truly mechallel shabbos? How do you know that he hasn’t ever kept shabbos/kashrus proper?
Do you know how hard it is to eat mamash treif in Israel??? I highly doubt he would ever eat pig or milk and meat together..
Being that NO satmars are on the level of Pinchas (this passed weeks parsha… ) they don’t have the right.
They are no tzadikim themselves.
These protests can hurt the yidden who live here much more than desecrating graves. While it is a worthy thing to care about the DEAD. Please care about the LIVING as well.
Protesting against Netanyahu is not just about him ,it’s about the entire jewish world here in EY. This is disgusting.
I guarantee if I would go to the American embassy and tell them to audit williamsburg, the world would be horrified. But I won’t.
Maybe if Satmar would focus on more than anti-zionism, they would actually accomplish something.
I am wondering we just learned in last weeks parsha what Pinchas did and what he got from Hashem would you also call it washing in the public?
# 33
i wills tart where you left off.
Satmar did and does more to help yidden of all stripes all over the world more then any body else.
Satmar gave the world:
1) Hatzolah.
2)first and largest Bikur Cholim.
3)Rav Tov(internationaly acclaimed rescue organization)
4)largest private Jewish educational system in the world.
& much much more,
as you see actually we did accomplish something.
we also very much appreciate that you are not going to have Williamsburg Audited….whew
what an biased statement !!! as if Flatbush,Deal… Boro Park are all audit proof…
also if you beleive its very difficult to eat mammesh treif in israel, so then all the McDoanalds in israel are kosher, well i have a very nice bridge to sell you….
To: lakewood99
NO! I would not at all call what Pinchas did washing our dirty laundry in public!!!
He handled an internal Jewish problem WITHIN the machaneh Yisrael.
IF he had organized a big public protest demonstration in front of the Midianites saying “OUR JEWISH MEN ARE VERY WEAK, AND CAN’T CONTROL THEIR YETZER HARA, SO PLEASE KEEP YOUR DAUGHTERS AWAY FROM US!” – if he had done THAT, which of course he did NOT, then THAT would have been washing our dirty laundry in public. And…
THAT is in effect what Satmar is doing, i.e. going to the goyim and saying “those running the government in Eretz Yisrael don’t behave properly, so please punish them”.
Going to goyim to solve Jewish problems is like going to a secular court instead of a Beis Din!!!
Don’t get me wrong. Satmar does a lot of good, but THIS was VERY wrong!!!
What they’ve superbly accomplished is giving Obama a good laugh and secondly, another reason to look down at Netanyahu while he pleads Israel’s cause in Washington, where Netanyahu is already persona non grata.
Right idea, wrong time.
I hope all of you zionist haters saw the Hamodia this past week where a Chareidi rabbi went into a really really secular anti religious kibbutz and is being mekarev them!!! These people ate pig, davka disregarded everything. This Rav worked his way in (including living in a one room appt!!! with a big family!) and managed to befriend them to a point where they now hold minyanim and are coming closer to yiddishkeit.
The Jews have done many sins throughout the ages complaining in the midbar, chet Haegel, chet hameraglim , merivas korach etc etc.. Yet, Hash-m NEVER stopped loving us and wanting to forgive us . So to with the zionists. There is ALWAYS hope. Stop spending so much time condemning and find ways to bring them home!