Vanun
15-03-07, 07:33
An anti-Zionist rabbi who attended Tehran's Holocaust Conference in last December said Wednesday he was beaten while in Poland by men furious for his action.
Moishe Arye Friedman, who lives in the Austrian capital Vienna, was attacked last Friday in Lezajsk, a small town in southeastern Poland. His attackers included Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, a member of the Israeli group ZAKA, and two others, AP reported.
Meshi-Zahav, an orthodox Israeli Jew, confirmed to The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview from Jerusalem that he had been among Friedman's attackers.
Friedman belongs to a handful of anti-Zionist rabbis who grabbed headlines in December when they joined a conference in Tehran hosted by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad that sought to discuss the Holocaust.
Friedman has described the Holocaust as a "myth."
The attack on the rabbi came during annual commemorations for an 18th century Hassidic rabbi buried in Lezajsk, which were attended by both Friedman and Meshi-Zahav.
Earlier, a Jewish school in Austria, running under Zionist auspices, expelled all Friedman's four children under the pretext of their father's anti-Zionist activities.
Austrian Zionists had earlier filed a lawsuit against Friedman for his participation in Holocaust Conference.
The expulsion of children, a highly rare incident in Austria, was made after the court rejected the lawsuit for the reason that the conference was organized outside the Austrian territory.
Moishe Arye Friedman, who lives in the Austrian capital Vienna, was attacked last Friday in Lezajsk, a small town in southeastern Poland. His attackers included Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, a member of the Israeli group ZAKA, and two others, AP reported.
Meshi-Zahav, an orthodox Israeli Jew, confirmed to The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview from Jerusalem that he had been among Friedman's attackers.
Friedman belongs to a handful of anti-Zionist rabbis who grabbed headlines in December when they joined a conference in Tehran hosted by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad that sought to discuss the Holocaust.
Friedman has described the Holocaust as a "myth."
The attack on the rabbi came during annual commemorations for an 18th century Hassidic rabbi buried in Lezajsk, which were attended by both Friedman and Meshi-Zahav.
Earlier, a Jewish school in Austria, running under Zionist auspices, expelled all Friedman's four children under the pretext of their father's anti-Zionist activities.
Austrian Zionists had earlier filed a lawsuit against Friedman for his participation in Holocaust Conference.
The expulsion of children, a highly rare incident in Austria, was made after the court rejected the lawsuit for the reason that the conference was organized outside the Austrian territory.