Satmar Kiryas Joel Discrimination in 1994 - on 60 Minutes

Satmar Kiryas Joel on 60 Minutes, Interviewing Joseph Waldman, Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Netura Karta, KJ Mayor Abraham Wieder, Mier Werthimer.

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110613/NEWS/11061992...

Kiryas Joel Dissidents File Suit Seeking to have Village Dissolved

Dissident leaders from Kiryas Joel filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the Satmar Hasidic community's majority faction of abusing its control over municipal affairs and demanding the 34-year-old village be dissolved.
The 59-page complaint catalogs grievances dating back a decade and depicts a religious faction exercising uncontested power in the secular realm. The case, brought by Goshen attorney Michael Sussman, calls Kiryas Joel a "theocracy" that violates the First Amendment's prohibition against the establishment of religion.
"Religion is wonderful," Sussman said at a press conference in his office Monday, seated beside Joseph Waldman, a plaintiff and longtime dissident leader. "But it cannot dominate the state. And that is what is happening in Kiryas Joel."
The case alleges discrimination against dissidents — estimated in court papers to comprise 40 percent of the village's roughly 20,000 residents — in various facets of public life, from tax exemptions for synagogues to election improprieties to selective enforcement of village noise ordinances.
Among the most serious allegations is that Kiryas Joel's Public Safety Department, a quasi-police agency, has acted as enforcers for the main congregation and tolerated acts of violence and intimidation against dissidents by unruly crowds of young supporters of Satmar Grand Rebbe Aron Teitelbaum, the leader of Kiryas Joel's majority faction.
In one incident in August 2010, a mob of screaming boys — angry about a marriage held in a dissident wedding hall — allegedly hounded relatives of one of the newlyweds as they walked home from a synagogue after midnight. The complaint says the boys punched, kicked and threw bottles and eggs at the family, which included a pregnant woman.
The suit alleges that public safety officers passed by during the harassment and did nothing. Later, when the family members approached their destination, an officer parked nearby allegedly refused to escort them home.
The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to dissolve the Village of Kiryas Joel, which would effectively remove its leaders, lift its laws and place it under the governance of the surrounding Town of Monroe. The village was incorporated in 1977 as a satellite of the Brooklyn-based Satmar sect.
If the judge won't do that, the suit asks for the removal of the current village leaders, including the mayor, trustees and administrator.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a much-publicized attack against a dissident in New Square, a Hasidic community in Rockland County roiled by the same sort of internal rift as the Satmar Hasidim. In that May 22 incident, a 43-year-old man suffered severe burns fighting off a young man who tried to burn down his home.
Sussman, who's also representing the burn victim, Aron Rottenberg, announced Monday that he had filed a $36 million lawsuit in state court against New Square's grand rebbe, David Twersky, and the 18-year-old aide suspected of starting the fire.
By Chris Mckenna
Times Herald-Record

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Satmar
• Kiryas
• Joel
• Yoel
• Aron
• Zalmen
• Rodney
• KJ
• Williamsburg
• Lipa
• Schmeltzer
• Avraham
• Fried
• MBD
• Werdyger
• Berry
• Weber
• Lubavitch
• Chabad
• Makeve
• Mishkoltz
• Munkatch
• Nikolsburg
• Pshevorsk
• Pupa
• Rachmastrivka
• Sanz
• Klausenburg
• Serdahel
• Viznitz
• Monsey
• Skulen
• Skver
• Spinka
• Toldos
• Aharon
• Avrom
• Tosh
• Shalom
• Israel
• Jerusalem
• Kotel
• Hasidic
• Dance
• Wedding
• טסה
• מידד
• אמנון
• יצחק
• חבד
• בעלזא
• ויזניץ
• צאנז
• גור
• סאטמאר

[valeagathon]

@xprofessorelliot the fact that only 27% of russia is actually populated is irrelevant.they have resources you don't even imagine.quantities of oil and gasses wich you would only dream,and they're exploiting these resources for good.

china is like russia,just more populated.oh,and i know,anyway,of chinese products invading your market,not of american products invading theirs.

5 or 6 years,man,and china will be the biggest and most powerful economy on the planet.

[xprofessorelliot]

@valeagathon we'll fuck them over, combined. we run the trade system. we have a better stand against them because of our internal advantage. you should know that just because russia is such a big country, only 27% of its territory is actually populated. china is only strong in military. there are many things that we beat both of those country in.

[valeagathon]

@xprofessorelliot if we're talking of attacking countries like afghanistan or iraq,of course it's the most powerful.

if you would ever have in mind to attack russia or china,then we'll see who's real "numbah uan".

[xprofessorelliot]

@valeagathon heyy fuck you, you italian fuck. America is number 1!! The most powerful country in the world!

[valeagathon]

an american town FULL of yiddish-speaking oven magnets?

that's a place i should visit if I ever come visit your shithole,americunts.

[frostymk00]

I live next to the village and trust me there is so much violence you don't want to be there the local state troopers are there so often they have their own task force

[TagMahirTzedek]

@thegreenolivo Gen Eden? Really? That is probably what they taught you. That place is poor as H#@$. And it is outside of Israel as well and not the permanent residence for Jews. Anyway they are at polar opposites of True Judaism. Out great men like King Dawid, Moshe our Prophets and Rabbis were and taught nothing close to their ideology.

[TagMahirTzedek]

The thing is the video is talking about it as if they want to move in. I'm an Observant Jew and I dont want to be their. They are extremely poor as well.

[surbon514]

@JoanBeatrington001 If you think Kiryas Joel is in ANY way representative of any group of Jews other than their own, than you are clearly not worth listening to. Maybe you should meet a Jew or two before you start spouting off anti-semitism.

[SatchmoSings]

@JoanBeatrington001 Since you claim all you do about Jews, especially inre to the media, maybe you can explain how this segment on 60 Minutes even got to be produced?