Hundreds of members of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, organized by the Rabbinical Alliance of the USA, plan to protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly the end of this month. The demonstration will be held in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in Manhattan, 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, Thursday September 27 at 5:00 PM. The entrance to the park will be from 2nd Avenue only.
Protesters intend to focus on the fact that since the passing of a 2014 law, the Israeli government has been forcing Orthodox Jewish young men to serve in its army. Recently, they have been enforcing the laws more strictly, and cracking down violently on anyone who speaks out. Those who refuse to comply with the draft, due to their religious convictions, as well as those who protest against the law,are treated brutally. Hundreds of boys and even girls have been thrown into prison. “We are going to send a message to the United Nations that Benjamin Netanyahu does not represent the Jewish people or the Jewish religion,” said Rabbi Aron Jacobowitz, a spokesman for the group. “According to the Jewish religion Jews are forbidden to create a sovereign state or wage wars against other nations,therefore the State of Israel is in total violation of Judaism. Authentic Jewry never recognized the State of Israel and therefore refuse to serve in the Israeli army” “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. “The recent forced military draft of religious Jews against their religious convictions is a violation of the freedom of religion of these communities, and the cruel oppression of protesters is a violation of the universal freedom of speech. This is another stage in their on going efforts to force the remaining authentic Jews to take part in their criminal movement. Their intent is to uproot religious Judaism. “All that our communities in the Holy Land want is to live in peace with their non-Jewish neighbors and practice and preserve the Jewish religion, as we did prior to the establishment of this political State of Israel. We do not desire power or domination. “The Zionist movement came to execute a transformation of Judaism from a religion to nationalism, therefore the Zionist state’s claim to be a “Jewish” state is the worst kind of identity theft. The State of Israel is not Jewish at all, and its ongoing actions do not represent world Jewry. The ongoing crimes committed by the state against the Orthodox community prove once again that they don’t represent the religious Jews living in the Holy Land, let alone those around the world.” Rabbinical Alliance of the United States and Canada is an umbrella organization uniting dozens of congregations with the goal of strengthening Judaism in Jewish communities around the world.
Mass Jewish protest against Israeli Prime Minister at United Nations on September 22, 2016
New York Jews Protest Netanyahu at UN General Assembly, September 19, 2017