Monsey rabbi riles some by attending Iran Holocaust conference

A local rabbi has outraged some Hudson Valley residents by attending a Holocaust conference sponsored by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, of Monsey, is a member of Neturei

News 12 Staff

May 29, 2014, 6:59 PM

Updated 3,794 days ago

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A local rabbi has outraged some Hudson Valley residents by attending a Holocaust conference sponsored by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, of Monsey, is a member of Neturei Karta, a minority sect of Hasidic Judaism. The group doesn?t acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, and some of its members have been seen burning Israeli flags. Weiss says the existence of Israel is going against God?s plan, and he adds he prays for Israel?s peaceful dismantlement. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has also called for the destruction of Israel. Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier.Rabbi Michael Gisser oversees the Holocaust Museum Study Center in Spring Valley. His grandparents were murdered in the Holocaust. He says the sect Weiss belongs to is anything but peaceful, and claims they advocate killing Jews by seeking Israel?s destruction. Gisser sees the conference as nothing more than a gathering of everyone who hates Jews. He says he believes God is weeping over the way some people choose to use their faith. The conference is continuing in Iran.