New York City
A mass rally of anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews, organized by the Rabbinical Alliance of the USA, is scheduled to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov 22, 2017 in front of the Israeli consulate in New York City, at 3:30 PM.
The protest will denounce the Israeli government’s recent forcing Orthodox Jewish buys and girls to serve in its army. Those who refuse to comply with the draft, due to their religious convictions, as well as those who protest the draft, are treated brutally by Israeli authorities.
Dozens of draft dodgers and hundreds of protesters have been arrested daily in the past 5 weeks. Yesterday, the 36th day of continuous protesting, at least ten protesters were injured by police. They were hospitalized and two of them underwent emergency surgeries.
“The religious Jewish community has always been staunchly opposed to joining the Israeli army, following the fundamental principle of Jewish belief that Jews are in exile and are forbidden to have their own state or army, or to wage wars against any nation,” said Rabbi Aron Jacobowitz, a spokesman for the rally. “This is in addition to their objection to the ongoing immoral behavior of the Israeli army. Large communities of hundreds of thousands of Jews are now struggling to avoid service in the IDF. Their only wish is to live at peace with their neighbors, serve G-d and continue with their daily lives.
“Anti-Zionist Jews, as conscientious objectors, deserve the right to be exempt from service in the Israeli army, as set down in UN Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/77.
“By forcing our communities to serve in the IDF, the Israeli government is trampling on our religious rights. By oppressing non-violent protesters, they are trampling on our freedom of speech.”
Rabbi Yosef Gottlieb, an influential religious scholar who has served long sentences in Israeli prison and is scheduled to be a speaker at tomorrow’s rally, said: “We are dealing here with anti-Semites, people who hate us and hate our religion. But this is not hatred from non-Jews, but from people of Jewish descent who don’t observe any part of our religion. They attempt to forcibly uproot Jewish religion from all Jews, yet they portray themselves as representatives of the Jewish people.”
Rabbi Gottlieb concluded, “The State of Israel is the most dangerous place for Jews, spiritually and physically.”