Speech of Rabbi Mair Hirsh of Neturei Karta Palestine at a press conference held in Jerusalem on the on the subject of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, October 22, 2015
In the name of the Almighty, the merciful and compassionate: Our brothers and friends, the Palestinian people, Salam Aleikum!
In these days, days of suffering and mourning on all sides, and out of deep pain over the spilling of the blood of innocent people who have not committed any crime, we stand now in the very heart of the Holy City of Al-Quds, the capital of Palestine, to express the position of thousands of Jews in occupied Palestine as well as the position of worldwide Orthodox Jewry on the subject of the Zionist occupation in general, and on the subject of the Zionist settlers who visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
As is known to all who know history the Jews lived with their brothers, the Palestinians, in peace and mutual brotherhood before the Zionist movement started in the year 1928. The Arabs treated them with honor and respect, and even protected them. There are many documented witnesses to this.
Also, regarding the Al-Aqsa Mosque, although control over the mosque was in the hands of the Muslims, still they allowed Jews to pray at the Western Wall.
All of this changed after the Zionist idea came into being, after the famous Balfour declaration.
Not only today, when the whole world around us already sees clearly the sour fruits of the Zionist occupation, the cruel and ongoing oppression against our Palestinian brothers, and the world is opposed to it; but even then, the Jewish rabbis in Palestine and around the world foresaw the outcome of the Zionist philosophy and they strongly opposed the establishment of the Zionist state, and massive immigration of world Jewry to Palestine, something that is completely against the law of the holy Torah.
According to the fundamentals of Jewish faith, it is forbidden for Jews, wherever they are, to establish for themselves any kind of state, or any kind of government. They are commanded to be subservient, and to be loyal citizens of the governments under which they live, and to live in peace and brotherhood with their neighbors. And that's how all Jews lived in all generations for almost 2000 years, until the Zionist occupation. Palestine was one of the best examples of this, among all the Arab countries. They knew how to respect the Jewish religion and the Jews living among them, with honor and protection, like the other citizens of various countries, because the Jews did not have any political aspirations.
We must declare unequivocally that entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is completely against the law of our holy Torah. The punishment for this is one of the most severe punishments.
The idea of Jews entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound was started by the Zionists in the year 1928, and today it is done by settlers and confused individuals who have no connection to the authentic Jewish people. It doesn't represent the position of Haredi Orthodox Jews. Even then, the chief rabbi of Orthodox Jewry, Rabbi Sonnenfeld, peace be upon him, Saw fit to publish a declaration to the Palestinian people, in which he stated clearly, and I quote: "And in particular, there is no foundation to the rumor that the Jews want to acquire the Temple Mount; on the contrary, from the time that, due to our sins, we were exiled from our land, and our Temple was destroyed, it is forbidden for any Jew to set foot on the grounds of the Temple Mount."
Just before the establishment of the defiled Zionist state in the year 1947, the chief rabbi of haredi Orthodox Jewry, Rabbi Dushinsky, peace be upon him, appeared before the committee of the United Nations, who were visiting Palestine, and submitted a memo, stating, "We want to stress our complete opposition to a Zionist state in any part of Palestine."
To this day, all Jewish communities in Palestine and around the world, oppose the cruel Zionist occupation of Palestine, and all their actions and crimes against our brothers, the Palestinians.
Every year on the day the state was established, the anti-Zionist Jews come out in protest in the streets of the Holy Land against the Zionist occupying government.
Haredi Orthodox Jews boycott the state: they do not vote in their elections, they do not contribute money to it, and they also do not accept any money from it.
Haredi Orthodox Jewry suffers from the cruel oppression of the Zionist leadership, which has been going on already for almost 70 years by the Zionist occupier.
Every time the Zionists carry out an act of murder and genocide against the Palestinian people, authentic Jews around the world condemn it, and especially, it is condemned by the Jews living in occupied Palestine.
The Palestinian leadership knows well how to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism, and to respect the Jewish religion. A good example of this is that my father, Rabbi Moshe Hirsch, peace be upon him, who represented anti-Zionist Jews in Palestine, was appointed by the beloved president of Palestine, Yasser Arafat, peace be upon him, as minister of Jewish affairs in his cabinet.
An international Jewish delegation arrived in Gaza in 2009 to visit, and to express their identification with the pain of our Palestinian brothers, and to offer them humanitarian aid and medical aid for the many wounded. They were received with great honor by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ismail Haniyeh, and at that meeting the Prime Minister stated in the clearest possible way, "We know the distinction between Judaism and Zionism, and we have no grievance against Jews or Judaism. Our entire opposition is only against the Zionist occupation of Palestine."
In the month of March 2012, a Jewish delegation took part in Beirut, Lebanon in the global march for Al-Quds.
In December 2012 an honorable delegation was sent to Ramallah to congratulate the Rais of the State of Palestine, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, on his victory at the United Nations.
In December 2014, an honorable delegation of anti-Zionist Jewish rabbis went to offer consolations to the family of Ziad Abu Ein, peace be upon him, after his murder at the hands of the Zionists.
Both at times of mourning and at times of joy, our respect and mutual relationship with the Palestinian people is expressed.
At all times, we express our clear position to the newspapers and international media.
A large percentage of the Jewish community in Palestine lived here before the Zionist movement. A large percentage of the community was brought to Palestine by trickery and force, by the Zionist occupying government.
In recent times, as the Zionists seek to provoke our neighbors by entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, declarations of condemnation were posted from wall to wall by Haredi Orthodox rabbis, who represent a quarter of a million Jews in Palestine, against this entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
We condemn in the strongest terms the attempts that resurface from time to time, of the Zionists and their proxies, the settlers, to take control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque in any form. And we hereby declare that all these crimes are not done in our name. The Zionist government with all its factions, and especially the Zionist prime minister, do not represent at all the Jewish people, or Judaism. They have no right to speak in the name of the Jewish people, and the name "Israel" which they use is a forgery, and they have no right even to one centimeter of the land of Palestine, which must be restored to its rightful owner, the Palestinian people. Our colleagues in the United States and Europe also condemn in the strongest terms the attempts of the Zionist occupiers to take control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Our hearts are bleeding over the shedding of the blood of innocent people, free of any crime, as a result of the constant provocations and the cruel oppression by the Zionist occupier against our Palestinian brothers. We ask the United Nations, in the name of the Jewish people, to send to Al-Quds an international force to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defiled Zionists, so that they should not desecrate the holy place Al-Aqsa with their defiled feet.
We believe that the final and just solution to stop the cycle of violence and to bring about tranquility and peace for Muslims and Jews can only be the restoration of the government to a unified Palestine, covering the entire land of Palestine, with its capital at Al-Quds, just as Jews and Arabs once lived in peace and security for hundreds of years under Muslim rule, until the Zionist conquest.
And we hereby pray to the Almighty that He bring an end to the Zionist domination over the Holy Land and that He bring peace and brotherhood, mercy, justice and fairness among all of mankind to serve the Almighty together, as one, with the help of the Almighty!
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