Israel Matzav

Nobel laureate: Satmars were right about Israel

Nobel Prize winner Robert Aumann threw down the gauntlet to the country's National Religious community on Monday night. In a speech in front of a Bnei Akiva conference, Aumann was - once again - highly critical of the government's expulsion of Jews from Gaza. But he added a statement that is anathema to the National Religious community: He raised the possibility that the anti-Zionist Satmar Hasidim were right about the State of Israel. (Hat Tip: Shlomo in Melbourne, Australia).

Nobel Prize Laureate for Economics, Professor Israel Aumann said Tuesday that the Satmars, an anti-Zionist Hasidic sect, were right in saying that an independent Jewish state should not be established before the messiah’s arrival.

Speaking at a Bnei Akiva conference in Ramat-Gan, Aumann reiterated his criticism of the government’s treatment of Gush Katif evacuees, referring to it as a "national disgrace."

He also slammed decision-makers for continuing to allow Palestinian incitement, as he called it, which “is even worse than terror attacks or Qassams.”

During his keynote speech at the event, Aumann said he believes Israel is “in deep trouble,” adding that “perhaps only the national religious Jews and the Bnei Akiva yeshivas can salvage the situation.”

“I fear the Satmars were right. As God did not build a home here, the Zionists’ work is for nothing,” he said.

Aumann proceeded to incorporate the game theory he developed into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying Israel’s yearning for immediate peace makes it even harder to achieve

“If we could say to our neighbors, ‘You have time? So do we. You’re sticking to your goal? So are we.’ If they understand this, peace will be attainable,” he said.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:14 AM