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Satmar Rebbe Condemns U.S. Recognition Of Jerusalem As Israel’s Capital

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, center, the head of the Satmar Orthodox group, arrives at Ben-Gurion international airport, 15 August 2007. Image by SHOOKI LERER/AFP/Getty Images

By JTA December 11, 2017

(JTA) — The head of one of the Satmar Hasidic sects slammed the United States’ announcement that it recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel on Saturday night at an event at the New York Expo Center in the Bronx condemned the announcement made on Wednesday at the White House by President Donald Trump.

“We declare in the name of Haredi Judaism: Jerusalem, the holy city, will not be the capital of the Zionist state, even if the President of the United States says it is,” Teitelbaum said, Israel National News reported.

“Just as Haredi Jews did not recognize President Truman’s declaration in 1948 that Israel is the Jewish State, we don’t recognize it today,” he also said.

Satmar is anti-Zionist and does not recognize the formation of the state of Israel.

Teitelbaum was speaking to thousands of followers at the annual event marking Chuf Alef Kislev, which marks the day the late Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the founder of Satmar in America, escaped from the Nazis during the Holocaust in 1944.

“Jerusalem is a holy city, a city of piety. Zionism is the opposite of fearing God and Torah, and it has nothing to do with the city of Jerusalem,” Teitelbaum also said.

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