Neturei Karta ultra-Orthodox extremists urge Obama to save the Jews from Zionism

Neturei Karta, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who reject the State of Israel on religious grounds, is turning to Obama for help against the “evils of Zionism.”

In a letter addressed to “His Excellency the President and Friend of Peace and Justice Barack Hussein Obama” that is currently making the rounds on Twitter, the extreme anti-Zionist group urges the president to intervene on the behalf of Haredi Jews in Israel who fear the new government will force them to join the army.

“Orthodox Jewry wishes to honor his Excellency the President,” the letter reads, “and to beseech him to exert his influence to help Orthodox Jewry of the Holy Land and thus to save hundreds of thousands of Jews subjugated under the evils and iniquities of Zionism, which is uprooting religion in general, and forcing enlistment in the army in particular (the military being utterly at variance with authentic religion, justice, uprightness, and humanitarian ethics, which have ever been our liberation from the regime of atheistic Zionism).”

It is unlikely that planned legislation to do away with blanket draft exemptions for yeshiva students — a key element of the recently signed coalition agreements — will be high on the agenda during Obama’s working meetings with Netanyahu and Peres.

An Obama quip: When Air Force commander Amir Eshel referred to a “red line” during his explanation of the Iron Dome system, Obama reportedly fired back, “It’s all ‘red lines’ with you.” This was a jocular reference to Netanyahu’s dead serious talk of the need for a “red line” to make plain to Iran what action would trigger US-led intervention. (Times of Israel Liveblog disclaimer: The president’s red-line joke was reported by Army Radio, and is here translated back to English, via Army Radio Hebrew, from the original presidential English.)

While Obama takes a break at his hotel in Jerusalem, we’ll take one too, and close this liveblog. Pick us up in the next installment here.