Members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta haredi group met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, according to Iranian media.
“I have heard that there are anti-Zionist Jews here and this is a great thing,” said Raisi. “We always reiterate the fact that we have no issue whatsoever with the Jewish faith, with the Torah, and in Iran, the Jews have freedom of religion. Our only issue is with the Zionists.”
Raisi stressed that he is against “oppression,” regardless of whether it comes from Jews, Christians, or Muslims. “That’s why we never recognized the members of ISIS as Muslims.”
“Today the Zionists wish to discredit the Jewish faith but we draw a clear distinction between Zionism and the Jewish faith and your work in which you announce that ‘we are Jewish, yet we are against Zionists’ that is something to be commended,” added the Iranian president.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (left) meets with members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta group on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. September 20, 2023 (Credit: Fars News Agency)
‘Iran respects, protects Jewish community’
The members of Neturei Karta who met with Raisi stated during the meeting said: “We found that throughout the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, they respected and protected the Jewish community till today and you’re only distinguishing that Zionism has nothing to do with the religion and the occupation is unacceptable.”
Raisi is often referred to as the “butcher of Tehran” in light of his involvement in the mass execution of thousands of Iranian political prisoners in the 1980s.
