Rabbi Ahron Cohen

___________________________________

Police protect rabbi from 'Nazi traitor' accusations

Patrick Foster, The Times, December 21, 2006

An Orthodox rabbi who angered the Jewish community in Manchester by attending an gathering of Holocaust deniers in Iran is under round-the-clock police protection.

Rabbi Ahron Cohen, who opposes Zionism, has had his car tyres slashed and his house pelted with eggs since he returned to Manchester from the conference in Tehran.

Last night he told The Times: “Outside my house it is not pleasant.

“They have a demonstration every day and shout things like ‘traitor’ and ‘Nazi’. I now have an almost constant police presence.”

Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, said that Rabbi Cohen’s participation in the Tehran conference was an “unforgivable betrayal of the memory of the victims of the Holocaust”.

One protester, Isaac Friedlander, said: “He is not part of the religious society and we should all stand against him. We do not want him living in our streets.”

Rabbi Cohen, a member of Neturei Karta, an international group opposed to the creation of Israel, said: “We are not Holocaust deniers. We went to Tehran and said there was a Holocaust, just that it should not be used as a justification for injustice.”

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: “On Sunday morning police were called to a house in Salford. Police found about 100 members of the Jewish community protesting. It was peaceful and no arrests were made.”

Rabbi Cohen said that he had mixed feelings about the release of David Irving. “I abhor his opinion, but I am pleased that it is a step in the right direction as far as freedom of speech goes,” he said.