Tens of thousand Satmar followers attended last night in Williamsburg the annual gathering in commemoration of their leader, the V'Yoel Moshe of Satmar z''l' 68th 'day of rescue'.
As expected, one of the topics in the center of the Satmar Rebbe's remarks [one follower told me: 'This is his State of the Union'], was Israel. The Rebbe argued that those who call for cutting Yeshivah funds in wake of any exempt of Ultra-Orthodox participating in the IDF military or national service is more than justified. "If you take funds from the state and argue that Haredim have equal rights, the opposition to the compulsory draft being extended to ultra-Orthodox Jews is well understood.," the Rebbe said.
The Rebbe issued a heartening plea: "Jewish leaders where are you? Jewish leaders where are you? Why is there such silence from the Jewish/Torah leaders in Israel? Why are they not protesting as they did 50 years ago, when there was a recruitment decree, where Jewish leaders did not remain silent? "
The Rebbe pledged he would do everything possible in the United States to ease the terrible decree hovering over Yeshivah students in the Holy Land.
The Satmar Rebbe, Reb Aaron Teitelbaum also referred to the outcome of the 2012 U.S. election saying: "There were elections held now in the United States. For the first time in history, 'This Brat' - Israeli Prime Minister committed an undiplomatic and dangerous move when he supported the candidate running against the President (Mitt Romney). Imagine what would happen to us if, God forbid, he [Obama] would have lost the election. There's a well known phrase 'Esau hates Jacob' [Genesis 27:41], in that event supporters of the president would of expressed [poured] their anger over the Jews in the United States. "
"How dare he [Netanyahu] take upon himself the consequences and the the bloodshed that would of come out of it," the Rebbe asked, "to place at risk the lives of thousands of Jews."
"Thank G-d," the Rebbe continued, "The President remained in power, and Jewish blood was not spilled by that 'low life' (ליידיג גייער in Yiddish) - that thinks Jews are not worth anything," the Rebbe concluded his indictment of the Prime Minister.
