Israel, Justice, Politics

Neturei Karta Shul in Monsey Set Ablaze

The AP reports,

Authorities are investigating a suspicious fire that destroyed the synagogue of an anti-Zionist Jewish group that had been heavily criticized for attending a conference in Iran last year where participants debated the Holocaust.
No one was injured in Sunday night’s fire. A senior Neturei Karta rabbi and his family, who lived on the top floor of the three-story structure, were not home.
“It may in the future be found to be accidental, but at this time we’re treating it as a suspicious fire and we’re investigating it as such,” said Sgt. Daniel Hyman of the Ramapo Police Department, which serves the suburban community of Monsey, about 35 miles north of New York City.

This is a disgraceful way to enter the chag. Mazal tov to everyone who jumped on the “bash NK” bandwagon, and in doing so, enabled this atrocity.
Jews burning shuls to the ground. WTF is the world coming to?
Full story.

30 thoughts on “Neturei Karta Shul in Monsey Set Ablaze

  1. Zionism – is Nationalism – which in extreme is Facism – and Facism against Jews is Nazism.
    “The State of Israel” is over.
    ‘Zion is a Sate of Mind! I’m going to Zion.’ -Robert Nester Marley (1969)
    May we all be in Zion this year!
    You Are Moshiach Now!

  2. Yes, obviously we can all agree this is just awful. But, really, how do we know that it wasn’t just a regular, old run-of-the-mill Jewish hate crime? Before we jump to conclusions that it was other Jews who did this (which, yes, is of course a possibility) perhaps we should let the facts sort themselves out.
    Chag pesach sameach everyone.

  3. I don’t know… even though people don’t like them, the article said that the fire started in the kitchen on the Sunday night before Passover… yes, it’s still suspicious, but I don’t think it’s obvious that this was arson. If it turns out to be that other Jews deliberately torched it, then that is awful, and I’ll be just as disgusted. But I’m not ready to conclude that yet.

  4. There’s no causation between my being on the anti-NK badwagon and that fire. Enabled? For someone who values free speech as much as you historically claim to (MazalTov cocktail, anyone?) suggesting that criticism = blame for a fire is grossly inconsistent.
    Chag sameach.

  5. Ok, I confees, I did it. I bashed NK, therefor I’m responsible for their shul burning – even if it was an accident, bad wiring, etc. I’m still guilty because I don’t like them. Even if it was a miscreant little jerk who claims to be frum, even a jerk I never met or communicated with, I’m responsible. Even if it was a standard Muslim anti semite who did it I’m responsible. And why am I responsible – because I’m a Jew, and therefor responsible for all the worlds ills, right?

  6. To Incorrect –
    I don’t get it, are you indirectly blaming the Muslims for this by being sarcastic? That no Jew is possibly capable of something like this? Because just as much as the usual “they blame us for the world’s ills” excuses bothers you, it bothers us too, when we get blamed for any average crime that has nothing to do with Islam or Muslims.
    So please clarify your sarcasm. What are you implying? And who are you blaming, if not the Jews responsible?

  7. Mobius…
    Yes, I agree that there is something suspicious here, and I would lie if I didn’t immediately think of the beating of the NK rabbi when I first read the article about the fire. Again, though, we really have no idea yet. Suspicious, yes, definitive by no means.
    Maybe it was a rogue matzah making bus with its break lines clipped?

  8. Esra, first of all, happy Pesach. Next, my sarcasm was directed at the idea that ANYONE, Jew, Muslim, or Christian, is responsible for a criminal act other than the one who committed it. Of course a Jew may have set fire to the Shul, so might a Christian, or Muslim, or a NK member himself in an attempt to win sympathy – I don’t know who did it, and no one else does other than the criminal (if there is one). I’m very happy to let the police investigate, and when they find the criminal, Jew, Gentile, or otherwise (again if there is one) that person should be prosecuted. Does it really do the victims or anyone else good to project possible villains, or to blame entire groups? Isn’t group responsibility for individual acts the very thing we decry as Jews (i.e. the Jews kill Christ)? Stay calm, stay cool, don’t throw accusations around, and let the facts develop.

  9. Well well well: turns out probably not arson at all, aren’t some of you awfully embarrassed now (mea culpa’s should be posted now): from tonights NY Times:
    But on Monday afternoon, hours after calling the blaze suspicious, investigators with the Ramapo Police Department reversed themselves and said that although the fire, which began in a washroom on the ground floor, remained under investigation, they had determined that arson was almost certainly not a factor.
    Detective Lt. Brad Weidel of the Ramapo police said that dogs had gone through the rubble but failed to detect any traces of an accelerant, leading investigators to believe that a gas or electrical problem might have touched off the blaze.
    “We understand that there is some controversy surrounding this group,” Detective Weidel said at a news conference on Monday. “But our best investigators are telling us that they believe this was not an arson. At this time, the fire is not suspicious.”

  10. Just thought about this further, it’s actually a good lesson that instructs us: not to spread rumours; not to jump to conclusions before we know the facts; not let any innate prejudice against any particular group colour our view of the world; not to violate a basic precept of our religion that we are to love our fellow Jew; not to forget, particularly during Passover, that we are binded as one nation, and our future as a nation and as individuals in that nation will depend on how we work together. Love your fellow Jew.

  11. I understand the Ramapo Police are now interested in questioning äùí, who has been designated an ‘entity of interest’ in the case, to see if s/he has an alibi.

  12. Um, Religious Jews leave various fires burning throughout yom tov… it could have been an accident… it happened in my house once…

  13. Fanning the flames before all the facts are in is EXACTLY what the internet is for. Count me as a supporter of Mob and more or less convinced that it was anti-anti-Zionist frum Jews acting on behalf of Balaam’s Donkey.
    No carrot for you! Bad donkey!
    BTW, I’d like to design a new computer game where supporters of Israel firebomb synagogues and run away. The first screen starts in Iraq in the late ’40s. Anyone here know how to do that?

  14. One of the things I always loved most about Pesach as a kid was going to the shul to watch the rabbi kashering the kitchen with a blowtorch, so I’m not overwhelmed by the circumstantial evidence. And I agree with several of the other commentors here that fanning the flames, while a popular way to waste time online, is not the most helpful thing we could be doing. Better to express sympathy toward fellow Jews who have lost their shul the day before Pesach, regardless of how we feel about their views. And as with any fire, there is an investigation which will tell us what caused it, so that we don’t have to guess.

  15. Well, according to press reports, the authorities are now backing away from arson suspicion which only leaves us with Mobius’ suspicions which proves the instruction òì úçùåã áëùøéí aka – don’t suspect the good guys

  16. what i saw is that they’re claiming to have found no accelerant; ie. gasoline was not poured all over the house. that doesn’t mean that someone didn’t set the fire.
    it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that i would suspect a crazy right-wing jew of doing such a thing. i receive threatening messages all the time and i don’t even remotely have the visibility of nk. i never even made the masada 2000 shit list.
    nonetheless, if this turns out to be an “act of g-d,” i’ll eat my hat.

  17. Mobius, when and where – will there be an admission charge? The entire hat or just the rim? With or without ketchup?

  18. “This is a disgraceful way to enter the chag. Mazal tov to everyone who jumped on the “bash NK” bandwagon, and in doing so, enabled this atrocity.”
    WTf? So now anybody who doesn’t support Neturai Karta [NK] violating Shabbat to support terrorism and them kissing up to Ahmadinejad now is to blame for what a few faceless individuals allegedly did? Now they support terrorism? They did not enable any atrocity. A few faceless people did it. It doesn’t mean that we should not be outraged at NK supporting Ahmadinejad’s and Palesitnianism’s Nazi-like agenda against Israel. Nor does it mean that we should not say the obvious when NK claims to represent true Torah Judaism while violating Shabbat to support terrorism and Nazism. I find such a suggestion that those, who denounce NK for the traitorous things they do, being guilty of this fire bombing to be sickening and a way to censor free speech. Do you have anything to say about NK supporting terrorism against Israel while taking Israeli welfare money? I say that Israel should give these leeches living in Israel two days to contribute to the state or just ship their asses over to Iran where they can hug and kiss Mahmoud Ahmadinenazi all day long for all I care.

  19. “There’s no causation between my being on the anti-NK badwagon and that fire. Enabled? For someone who values free speech as much as you historically claim to (MazalTov cocktail, anyone?) suggesting that criticism = blame for a fire is grossly inconsistent.
    Chag sameach.”
    Amen Siviyo. Very well put. NK clearly used that fire attack to attack those, who don’t support their traitorous actions.

  20. I doubt that anyone caused the fire. It was probably a fire from some accident that got exploited by Neturai Karta in order to accuse their opponents of being terrorists.

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