Suspicious fire destroys N.Y. synagogue

[laststeamtrain]

Source: AP

Suspicious fire destroys N.Y. synagogue

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR, Associated Press Writer 57 minutes ago

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.

Neturei Karta had been the target of threats in the past because of its involvement in the anti-Zionism movement. The group does not dispute that the Holocaust occurred, said Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070402/ap_on_re_us/synagogue_fire&printer=1;_ylt=AoqSUtNpNk2Q0bKmuMVlyBxH2ocA

[Buzz Clik]

1. That seems a bit anthropomorphic. Seriously -- can a fire actually suspect?

Is the story suggesting that the fire destroyed the building because it suspected the occupants didn't fear it? Worshipped air, land, and sea more than fire?

I can kinda see ascribing anger to fire -- "a raging inferno". But suspicion. Please.

;)

[BayCityProgressive]

2. This group is interesting

I read about them on Wikipedia. I don't know how many of them there actually are. From what I have read, they went to Iran to make sure people knew that the Holocaust DID happen but that they still don't support a Jewish state. I wonder if any Jewish DUers have info on them?

**on edit- by "interesting" I don't mean I do or don't support them, I just think they sound so different from the mainstream that it interests me to know what they are all about.

[karynnj]

6. I know a very tiny amount

There are many orthodox synagogues in that area, some Hasidic. Years age, there was a Brooklyn based Orthodox group that felt that God was supposed to bring the Jews back to Israel when the messiah came - they were not supposed to just go themselves. So, anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews existed before the state of Israel did.

[uppityperson]

5. Suspicious the fire was set, human caused, "meant to do that" sort of thing.

my sarcasm meter is not working well today.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[IndianaGreen]

4. Those same partisans are now clamoring for war on Iran, as they did on Iraq

There are two brands of Zionism: the one that holds that Jews should return to the ancestral lands (nothing wrong with that one), and a new variant which treats Palestinians as subhumans and justifies everything Israel does on the ludicrous claim that "GAWD made me do it."

[cali]

7. No, it's really not.

First of all, Zionism isn't merely one ideology. In its most basic meaning it's simply a philosophy that supports a homeland for the Jews. How is that hateful? There are certainly hateful Zionists, just as their are hateful adherents to almost any political philosophy.
There are hateful factions of Zionism. That's quite a different thing from your statement- which, btw, is truly an ugly one.

[Lurking Dem]

8. First of all

it might be helpful to everyone to not assign blame until there are a few more facts in evidence.

Secondly, "Zionism is an ideology predicated on hatred" is an absurd propagandist statement meant only to shed heat, not light.

You are spouting boilerplate agitprop.