Protest Against Israeli Policies at UN

People should never fall into the trap and think that

criticizing Israel is antisemitic.

On the contrary, supporting Israel is supporting the

murder of little babies.

So what brought you out to the protest today?

Well, we are here outside of the United Nations

headquarters after Benjamin

Netanyahu addressed the, the General Assembly, and

supposedly, he claims to represent all Jews and,

and he

misuses the Jewish religion to justify all he stands for.

We are here to set the record straight. This is not Judaism.

This is not the Jewish people. He is using these, uh, uh, uh,

acts of propaganda in order to mislead and to,

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, t-the world into blind support to Israel.

This is unacceptable. But not only this, this is causing danger for the Jewish

people as well when all of this is being done in our name.

When, when Netanyahu stands up yesterday in

front of the press,

criticizing Mayor Mamdani of New York City, a-as if he is

inciting hatred, this is hypocritical.

Who is inciting hatred? It's Benjamin Netanyahu killing

innocent men, women, and children in Gaza, which is causing hatred

towards Jewish people. On the contrary, we should learn a lesson from Mayor

Mamdani. While he claims that he wants to arrest

Netanyahu and he criticizes the state of Israel, at the same time, he

respects and protects his Jewish communities here in New York City.

This is an example for the world to learn from.

This is how we need to view Zionism.

We have to understand the difference between Judaism and Zionism but, and, and

never conflate the two. So i-if, if we address this

properly,

we can and we should stand up for justice, we should stand up for the

oppressed, we should condemn the crimes, and we should realize and remember that

Israel is not only a violation of international law, these are violations of

Judaism. This is, the, the movement of Zionism is in total

contrast to everything Judaism stands for.

What are your thoughts, a lot of times when Palestinians, when,

um, you ask

Israelis about the land grabs that are happening in the occupied West Bank,

they

say, "Well, this land was promised to us 3,000 years ago." What

are your thoughts

on that talking point?

Well, using, if you want to use the religion,

you have to use it all the

way through. You cannot pick and choose what is in favor for your,

for your, uh, politics and nationalism. This doesn't make any sense.

This is ridiculous. Yes, there is a concept of the promised land,

in the same time,

there's a concept of Jewish exile. This is, this is a long discussion.

According to Judaism, there is no way that Jewish people are allowed

to occupy a land of another people, whether this is the United States of

America, France, or Palestine.

Do you think a lot of Israelis are being misled in Israel?

Certainly, they are. Well, many people are wicked criminals, and so many

people are misled, and I, I would consider many of them innocent.

What do you think the solution is, and what do you think America's role is in

enabling this conflict?

Well, the solution is very simple. The question is how we achieve it.

The solution is to stop the root cause of the conflict.

It is the occupation of... It's not the difference of religion,

as Zionist

propaganda wants to, wants to, wants to claim.

The, we have differences of religions for the

longest time, and we lived in peace.

It is occupation of Palestine which destroyed the original peace,

the historic

peace in Palestine, and it's the continuous crimes which

is fueling

this endless cycle of bloodshed. This needs to stop. How we attain it?

Exactly what we are doing today. The world is waking up.

W- uh, public opinion, we need to have education and awareness,

and this is

exactly what needs to be done. People need to learn to be educated

and not

to follow blindly this ridiculous propaganda.

What would you say to Benjamin Netanyahu if you had the chance to speak with him at

the UN today?

I would never speak to him. He would never listen to me.

What I'm doing is I'm speaking to the world.

I'm speaking to right-minded people.

I'm pe- I, I'm, I'm, I, I'm talking to people

that have a chance of opening

their minds to learn, and after learning, they'll be able to make the proper

decision.

For the Palestinian people who feel like, um, Jewish people might be,

um, you know, might innately hate them, what would you tell the Palestinians?

What I say to the Palestinians is exactly what I said and what I did

for decades. I visited Gaza after 2009.

I visited so many other Muslim countries and Palestinian refugee camps.

We are with you. We suffer with you. We cry with you.

I, I have in front of my eyes the images of

Gaza after the destruction

2009 and, and this disturbs me. I bring these stories back to my

communities. Jewish people lived in peace in Palestine.

We should never forget that. This is history that will repeat

itself. We are waiting for that day that we will join all of you

in Palestine and so many other countries.

Thank you so much, sir. What was your name?

Rabbi Dovid, D-O-V-I-D. Last name is Feldman, F as in Frank,

E-L-D-M-A-N.