Two Satmar factions have thrown their support behind Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to two separate articles in local Yiddish publications Friday.
The backing was given for her husband's previous work with the haredi community in New York.
“It is important to demonstrate our ‘Hakarat Hatov’ ['gratitude' - ed.] for Mrs. Clinton, whose help for Jewish interests had far-reaching effects back when she was First Lady in the White House," Der Yid, the Williamsburg or 'Zalis' Satmar faction paper, stated in an editorial. The comments were translated into English by the Jewish Insider.
Der Blatt, the Satmar-Aharonim newspaper, agreed.
“We endorse and urge all our people, who are registered Democrats, to come out and vote for the longtime Jewish-friendly Hillary R. Clinton,” it said.
The New York primary is on April 19.
Satmar support for Clinton is ironic, considering the fact that haredi newspapers have airbrushed her out of news photos before - such as the iconic photo showing US leaders overseeing the 2011 capture of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Ladin.
JTA reported in January that Clinton was miffed over the photo, published in Der Zeitung, as revealed in a trove of 5,000 pages of Clinton's former emails.
In an email entitled "Unbelievable," Clinton wrote that the paper "published the sit room photo w/o me (or Audrey T) photoshopped out perhaps because no woman should be in such a place of power or that I am dressed immodestly!!” Der Zeitung later apologized for the gaffe.