Gradnma: Rabbi Friendman is from a group called Neteuri Karta that I, and others here, ave talked about alot. Neterui are anti-Zionists and their whole aim is to de-legitamise Israel by any means possible. To do so they have even go so far as to blatantly break Jewish Law (assisting non-Jews to persecute Jews) and as such have alienated themselves even from the most viruelent of anti-Zionism in the Charedi Community.
There is an organisation in America called Agudat Yisroel, known in English commonly by the bastardisation "Agudath Israel." It is an umbrella organisation of all the Charedi, including Chaddishe, organisations, schools, and places of worphip." It is a huge entity.
Before Israel was RE-established in 1948 Agudat militantly opposed Israel on general principal. I will not go off into lessons,etc. but safe to say that after 48 they realised that their whole outlook had been incorrect (to be honest their main sticking point was the heavy Socialism of the founders of Israel and once Israel made huge concessions to the Charedim this dissipated).
Neteuri though, went to the opposite extreme and adopted a no holds barred polciy towards Israel. for examp,e it actually advised the PLO at Oslo and Madrid,meets with Khadaffi and supposrts his One State vison albeit with the expressed hoped that Jews have NO political say in that envisoned entity.
Ergo, a Neteuri Rabbi traveling to the Holocaust Conference in Tehran is not supring in the least. Nor could a Neteuri Rabbi deny the existence of the Holocaust because they developed out of Hungarin Jewry and while Hungarian Jews suffered less than alot of groups in that part of the world, those in the Carpathians and Transylvania regions were virtually exterminated (and this is where Neturi's familes come from).
To put things in perspective, their worldwide population is less than 6,000 according to most estimates and they are generous with their numbers.
That such a group would then suggest that Israel engages in manipulation of the Holocaust is no suprise at all. Anyone taking their word though, would either have to be willfuly devious or ignorant of the dynamic involved. IF Neturi could, they would accomplish their objective by extreme violence, that is how serious they are and how deranged thay have become.
They believe that the Messiah can NOT come until Israel is destroyed so engaging in this type (the kind you are mentioning) of histronics is light weight nonsense.
I did not follow your first link because I know of Rabbi Friendman and know Neteuri VERY well (their headquarters are a diliphadted house in which the first floor has been turned into a plce of worship in Monsey , NY which is a mostly Chredi town about an hour north of the Bronx (the Jewish town of Kiryas Joel, as it is written and incorporated although its name is a cprruption of Ashkenazi Hebrew) but I DID follow your second of course . I have to say, and no offence because I know that you take sources very seriously, but the opinion page for the Guardian? I will not ask if you are serious because I have no doubt that you are but really, you have to know that that is really not representative of anything. Who knows thepedigree of the author? You? Me? Noone. As such, it is worthless as an indicator of anything much less mainstream thinking.
The same is true for the third but what is more is that it is ridiculous. Israel holds up the Holocaust as its primary rationale for existence? What? that is absolutely laughable. It never has done so. Israel is merely the RE-establishment of a Jewish Homeland, on land that has only held Jewish Homelands as far as organic entities are concerned. In other words, other than as a Jewish Homeland, it has merely existed as third rate provinces of foreign empires.
The idea of its "existence" has been uttred daily by most Jews since the last sovereign entity held high its banner. We Jews, those of us who are religious, pray in its direction 3 times a dayand utters its place names in our daily prayers. Neither is Political Zionism a modern invention.
The root of TODAY'S Israel dates to the last years of the 1700s (CE/AD), not to the 1930s and 40s. Before Hitler was a spark in his great-great-great grandfather's eye we talked of it and planned it.
Wass it mentioned by our politicians in the early years? Or even today? Of course. As an event that was catastrophic to our people it must figure prominently in our history. My mother is a Survivor so that we are talking about a very modern event that effects the psyche of many Jews and non-Jews. However, it was not the reason why the UN Mandated our RE-establishment. The UN did this because its progenitor the League of Nations had ALREADY done so when Hitler was a toddler.
I have heard a couple of Jews say that Israel ensures that a Holocaust may never again hurt so many of us and I myself have probably said as much...even on this Forum. Yet it has never been held as a rationale, a raison d'etre...but of just one of a multitude of indicators that prove to us (and in this case "us" does not denote Jewry but Zionism) why we must stand strong.
Ha! the last source is a Kahnist that even the Kahanist Movement hates! Amazing. Not only is that moron (and I have heard of that nut in Israel, he started a movement, called "Zo," that he hoped to turn into a political party (which in Israel is so easy that there was even a party for Taxi Drivers when I was a kid!) but could not drum up enough support. Essentialy he is a religious fundamentalist that has views that most fundamentalists find nauseating (apparently since not many have been drawn to him, aside from what I have observed). What is more is that he is factually incorrect in the piece you chose to source.
Israel makes visiting dignataries visit the Yad Vashem Memorial??? He shows why he could have never formed a political party. He does not posess the faintest understanding of politics. Why did the Governor of NYC, a Jew, march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade here? Of course he did so for the same reason why the heterosexual Governor of Massachusets marched in the last Gay Parade in Boston, because it is a political gesture of solodarity and this is what democratic politicians (and non-democratoc as well when visting any erstwhile ally) tend to do IF they are intelligent.
As someone who has worked closely with both government and politicians in general (who in Israel has not ), I would offer that VIPs do no allow hosts to steer them anywhere as much as they ask their advisors about prominent cultural attractions. They want to be seen as appreciating local culture, not only by their host but by their own demographic and constituency. Is it any suprise that Tony Blair, when PM, would have been seen laying a wreath (which is not even a Jewish Custom by the way) at the Memorial? What better way to be perceived at home and abroad as culturally sensitive. How much better when someone like Blair actually has a sizable Jewish population to consider back home.
Israel does not steer anyone anywhere unless they ask for some tips. then things are listed and the visting dignitary chooses where to go...aside from any kind of political conference that would have already been schedualed (and probably the rationale for the visit anyway).
Anyway, I applud your effort but it proves nothing. I mean, simply ask yourself the following questions:
When did Political Zionism coalesce (as opposed to begin)?
When were foreign powers involved in its formation? Only during or after the Holocaust?
When was Modern Israel planned?
The Holocaust is a seminal event in Jewish History but is not a seminal event in the history of either Zionism (any form of it although it might have convinced more to adop the strictures of Revisonism, not to be confused with Latter Revisonism AKA Post-Zionism as espoused by Chomsky, Shahak, Finkelstein,etc.) OR Israel.
