02 April 2007
A fire has destroyed the New York synagogue and the residence of a senior rabbi of an anti-Zionist Jewish group whose members attended an Iran-sponsored conference last December that questioned the Holocaust. Police and fire investigators said the blaze in Monsey on Sunday night was considered suspicious because the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group, Neturei Karta, had previously been the target of threats. A Neturei Karta rabbi said that his group suspected arson because of previous threats. "There is no question that the issue is to stifle the opposition to Zionism," he told the 'Associated Press' news agency. Rabbi Moshe Beck, a senior rabbi for the group, lived on the top floor of the building. Beck is one of the more outspoken leaders of the group.
In December, five members of the group traveled to the Tehran conference sponsored by the Iranian regime. Some were photographed meeting with president Ahmadinejad – who has called the Holocaust a "myth" and repeatedly condemned the existence of Israel. Those images produced an outcry from many Jewish groups.
