Only about two or three Jewish groups or individuals in Durban have joined up with the Moslem-Arab groups in their campaign against Israel: One is the fiery anti-Zionist Neturei Karta, one of whose three representatives is Yisroel Dovid Weiss of New York, who has been photographed countless times marching alongside Arabs holding a sign against Zionism. Weiss\' internet statement says, \"We would like to make aware to the world that Zionism and Judaism are diametrically opposite... The actions taken by Zionists against the Palestinians are not accepted by the Jewish people…\"
Asked his opinion of this phenomenon, Beit El\'s Rabbi Shlomo Aviner said,
\"I don\'t know this man, but he is making a very grave mistake. I wouldn\'t say that he has \'cut himself off from the People of Israel,\' and in fact he probably thinks he is helping the People of Israel with his actions. But Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook once wrote that just as Maimonides wrote that \'rabbis\' who think that G-d is corporeal are making a mistake, so too this is a mistake…\"
Jews in South Africa had a more practical view of the Neturei Karta actions; one leader, David Jaffe, said that the Neturei Karta are, \"by their actions, giving encouragement to groups that advocate intifada and suicide killers…\"
Another Jewish group claiming that Israel is racist is Rabbis for Human Rights, headed by Reform Rabbi Arik Ascherman. Its field director and representative in Durban, Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, participated together with the well-known anti-Zionist Israeli Dr. Uri Davis, the author of a new book entitled, \"Israel: An Apartheid State,\" before a throng of more than 1,000 Moslems in the main mosque of Durban. Investigative journalist David Bedein reports that Rabbi Milgrom also confirmed that he worked with LAW, the PLO legal advocacy lobby, at the preparatory session in Geneva to draft ideas for the UN conference in Durban.
Bedein reports that Ascherman admitted that his organization raised and distributed money for Palestinians, based on recommendations by LAW - and LAW spokesman Arjan El Fassad explained that monies received from the Rabbis for Human Rights go to the families of \"martyrs\" who have been killed while attacking Israelis over the past ten months.
Asked his opinion of this phenomenon, Beit El\'s Rabbi Shlomo Aviner said,
\"I don\'t know this man, but he is making a very grave mistake. I wouldn\'t say that he has \'cut himself off from the People of Israel,\' and in fact he probably thinks he is helping the People of Israel with his actions. But Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook once wrote that just as Maimonides wrote that \'rabbis\' who think that G-d is corporeal are making a mistake, so too this is a mistake…\"
Jews in South Africa had a more practical view of the Neturei Karta actions; one leader, David Jaffe, said that the Neturei Karta are, \"by their actions, giving encouragement to groups that advocate intifada and suicide killers…\"
Another Jewish group claiming that Israel is racist is Rabbis for Human Rights, headed by Reform Rabbi Arik Ascherman. Its field director and representative in Durban, Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom, participated together with the well-known anti-Zionist Israeli Dr. Uri Davis, the author of a new book entitled, \"Israel: An Apartheid State,\" before a throng of more than 1,000 Moslems in the main mosque of Durban. Investigative journalist David Bedein reports that Rabbi Milgrom also confirmed that he worked with LAW, the PLO legal advocacy lobby, at the preparatory session in Geneva to draft ideas for the UN conference in Durban.
Bedein reports that Ascherman admitted that his organization raised and distributed money for Palestinians, based on recommendations by LAW - and LAW spokesman Arjan El Fassad explained that monies received from the Rabbis for Human Rights go to the families of \"martyrs\" who have been killed while attacking Israelis over the past ten months.