Showing solidarity with Gaza and Hamas in a very distinct way:
Representatives of the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta sect paid a brief visit on Thursday to militantly anti-Israel Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.
The group arrived in Gaza Wednesday night, marking the first time envoys from the tiny ultra-Orthodox sect have come to Gaza since Hamas seized control in June 2007.
The sect denounces Israel’s existence and traditionally embraces its enemies – including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Neturei Karta members famously hugged at a Holocaust denial conference in December 2006.
Four sect representatives from the U.S. sat down with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday, after crossing into the territory through Egypt the night before with dozens of other pro-Palestinian activists. Israel, which maintains a strict blockade of Gaza, would not let them cross through its passages with the territory.
“We feel your suffering, we cry your cry,” said Rabbi Yisroel Weiss upon arriving Wednesday night.
“It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity,” said Weiss, wearing the black hat, black coat and long side-curls typical of ultra-Orthodox Jews. His delegation left Thursday.