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United Nations International Conference
in support of "israeli-Palestinian" peace
Brussels, Belgium - August 2007

Transcript of Statements to the Panel by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss

Dss file no. 36 it is at 1hr 08min

With G-d’s help, thank you for giving us this opportunity.  Throughout these sessions we keep on hearing about how there is a terrible mistake that the Palestinian’s side of the problem is constantly looked at as the problematic side and in the wrong; so we would like to, with God’s help, educate people, and to approach parliamentary leaders or whoever it is. It is essential that they know the truth; what the root of the conflict is. 

The state of Israel is constantly considered as a "Jewish" State and whoever oppeses it is classified as anti-Semitic .  We want people to understand that this was never a religious conflict.  Jewish people have been living hundreds of years together with the Muslim people and we are very thankful for the Muslim countries for giving us their hospitality.  This was never the problem. 

Zionism is a relatively new movement.  It is a political movement, a transformation from religion into a political movement.  In fact, according to Jewish teaching we were sent into exile during the destruction of the temple two thousand years ago and expressly forbidden to create our own state, even in a land that would be void of inhabitants.  It just compounds the terrible sin and crime being that there are Palestinian people living in this land, and to repress them and to banish them from the land, this is a crime against Judaism.

 I have a document, which is in the United Nations archives, that the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem wrote in 1947 pleading with the Secretary General of the United Nations that I am the Leader of the Jewish community in Jerusalem and “we do not want to have this State.”  So the problem is not religion.  It is psychological intimidation.  When you approach the parliamentary leaders, they must understand that it’s not against the Jewish people.  You are not committing a crime; you are not anti-Semitic if you stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people.  It is truly their right, totally from G-d, to have the land.  And this will bring the true peace.  We, the Jewish people, pray every day for the speedy and peaceful dismantlement of the entire state, then people would see that we can live together in true harmony as we have for hundreds of years.  We must work on that.  Thank you.

file no. 40 at 0.59, 1.05 and 2.04

With G-d’s help, I’m proud to see some fellow Jews that understand that the meaning of Judaism is to serve G-d and to emulate G-d, just as G-d is compassionate, we must be compassionate.  That is the running theme of Judaism; it’s about being close to God.  It’s not a political movement.  It has always been throughout the ages, just to serve God. 

Unfortunately, there is now a relatively new concept:  which is the state of Israel borne out of people who were estranged from God and Torah, like Theodore Hertzl.  People who wanted to transform Judaism from a religion into a nationality, to have a piece of land; totally contradictory to what Judaism is all about. This is not the Judaism that we have accepted on Mount Sinai a few thousand years ago.    

They have implanted, unfortunately, in the new generation as well as in the old generation, a whole different concept of what Judaism is supposed to be; to control Palestine, and so forth. This happens to be totally against the teachings of the Torah, against the teachings of God, for us to stand up and make our own country, after we were sent out after the destruction of the temple, two thousand years ago.  We were clearly commanded by God not to do that, even to create a state in a desolate land, and most certainly not to take the land by oppressing the people, subjugating the people, stealing the land. The ones who did this were Theodore Hertzl, people who were estranged from Judaism, who detested Judaism, they came and decided to change the Jewish soul, that Judaism is a nationality, ignoring the Torah and creating a state, and compounded their sin by oppressing the Palestinian people. In trying to accomplish this, the only way to legitimize their plan was by falsifying the Torah, waiving the Torah to legitimize what they are doing to the Palestinian people. And they have to misconstrue history as if we have a deep-seated hate between Jews and Muslims; as if we were never able to co-exist and as if we had always suffered at the hands of the Muslim people, all of which is patently false.

One of the most important things activists can do, is to catch the older generation, speak to the Muslim people, the Arab peopled and the Jewish people and take what they have to say and write down the history about how they have been living, coexisting in Palestine, in Hebron and all the different Arab countries.  Why is that so important?  Because the truth is we do not have a religious conflict.  This should be documented properly before the older generation passes on, it should be in printed advertisements, in the newspapers, because the world understands this is a conflict of religion and therefore you have to support God with Judaism etc. that the Palestinian people automatically are at fault, they should have to answer for themselves and everything you give them is a present, not warranted.

We want the world to know that this is a mistake; it is not Judaism and godliness versus the Palestinian people.  We are thankful for the Muslim and Arab communities for the hospitalities they have always shown us throughout the hundreds of years.  We didn’t live in conflict.  It’s not a religious conflict.  It’s a misrepresentation and reinvention of history to say that the Muslims are not hospitable and cannot tolerate other people.  And we pray to God for the speedy end of this State and He should do it in peace.  Thank you.

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