News Brief

In a letter to Barack Obama this week, the Mayor of the Kiryas Joel community in New York State praised the president's "noble efforts" to stop the "senseless bloodshed" in the Middle East by pressuring Israel to give up land in Judea and Samaria for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"Some Israeli politicians resist relinquishing any part of the holy land, claiming religious prohibitions," the letter said. "This is wholly fallacious! In fact, after the destruction of Israel in 69 CE, Jews were commanded to await divine redemption and prohibited from conquering the land. To this day Jews yearn and pray for the divinely inspired return to Jerusalem... The modern State of Israel stands in contravention of the Almighty's prohibition. Its effort to cloak itself in religion as a means of continuing the contravention of the Almighty is laughable if it weren't so sad."

In a statement, Rabbi Dovid Shlome Eckstein, a member of Neturai Karta and a friend of Wieder, praised the letter. "This important letter comes at a time when many Jews in our community are upset over the militant Zionist groups who appear to be representing Orthodox Jews. Our mayor is doing his job in expressing our sentiments, and we hope the President gets the message." The Kiryas Joel community is inhabited almost exclusively by Satmar Hassidim, known for their antipathy to the state of Israel.