The huge funeral of famous New York Rabbi
Yisroel Avrohom Portugal has provided yet another example of the outrageous lies
which the media perpetuates about the holocaust—in this case, claiming that he
“survived the Nazi death camps,” even though he was never in any camp
whatsoever, and in fact was only ever detained by Communists after the war.
The funeral of Rabbi Portugal, who died
recently aged 95, was attended by tens of thousands of wailing Hasidic Jews in
Brooklyn—but the media coverage of that event and his life provided the
grotesque exaggerations which have become typical of any coverage of World War
II.
First off the mark was The Jewish Press, which set the tone for the rest of the media. The Jewish Press is a weekly newspaper
in New York, and describes itself as “America's Largest Independent Jewish
Weekly.”
According to that newspaper’s article,titled “Skulener Rebbe, zt’l, is Laid to Rest,” Rabbi Portugal was “Born in
Romania to the previous Skulener Rebbe, Rabbi Eliezer Zusia Portugal zt’l and
Rebetzin Shayna Rochel, the Rebbe came to the United States as an immigrant
together with his father in 1960 after having survived the Nazi death camps in
World War II.”
This claim was then instantly repeated by
the rest of the media. The Daily Mail,
in its extensive coverage of the Rabbi’s funeral (“Tens of thousands of HasidicJews crowd Brooklyn streets for funeral of popular rabbi, 95, who survived theHolocaust and despised the internet—and no one with a smartphone could touchthe coffin”) announced that “the popular Rabbi had survived the Nazi death
camps and came to the United States in 1960.”
ABC News’s local broadcaster, Eyewitness News ABC 7, followed up in
its coverage (“Thousands crowd Brooklyn streets for grand rabbi's funeral; 2officers hurt”) by repeating this claim that “The rabbi came to the United
States in the 1960s after surviving Nazi death camps and was a mainstay in
Borough Park and Williamsburg for decades.”
News12
Brooklyn’s coverage (“Thousands line the streets ofBorough Park for rabbi's funeral”) claimed that the “rebbe survived the
Holocaust and went on to lead the Skulen synagogue for many years.”
USA
Today’s coverage was provided by its local affiliate, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News,
(“Large crowds mourned rebbe in Monsey today”) which said that “According to
the Jewish Press, Portugal was born in Romania, in what is now Moldova,
and immigrated to the United States with his father, Rabbi Eliezer Zusia
Portugal, in 1960 after surviving the Holocaust death camps and an imprisonment
by Romanian authorities for teaching Torah. The United Nations and U.S.
officials intervened on their behalf to have them released.”
However, the Jewish Daily Forward—a “left wing” Jewish paper in New York, inadvertently
exposed all these controlled media claims as lies. As the Daily Forward’s
headline accurately revealed (“The Last Holocaust-Era Rebbe Dies, And ANeighborhood Shuts Down To Mourn”), Rabbi Portugal was never in a concentration
camp, and was never even detained by the Germans during the war.
The Daily
Forward revealed that “Portugal and his father left Sculeni, the community
in Moldova from which their sect derives its name, before the outbreak of the
Second World War.
“They spent the war in the Ukrainian city of Chernowitz, facing persecution there from both the Germans and the Soviets, who occupied the city at different times.
“After the war they traveled to Bucharest, Romania, where they sought and cared for Jewish war orphans, and aided the small remaining Jewish communities. Portugal’s father was arrested multiple times by the Soviets, who occupied Romania until 1968.
“In April of 1959, Romanian authorities arrested both Portugal and his father for suspected treason. Jewish groups in the U.S. raised concerns about the arrest. According to a 1960 report from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, United Nations officials intervened to secure the release of the two rabbis, and the U.S. State Department offered them citizenship. They were released in September of 1959, and arrived in the U.S. in August of 1960.”
In other words, Rabbi Portugal never even
saw a concentration camp, much less “survived a death camp” and was ever only
detained by the Communists.
Even though the facts are readily available,
the media chose instead—as always—to simply repeat the outrageous lies.
This is in keeping with their standard line
on the holocaust, which is to just repeat the “six million murdered” story no
matter what the facts might show, hoping that endless repetition will smother
any counter arguments.
The media quoted above will also never “retract”
or “correct” their lies, another typical tactic of just leaving an “impression,”something which is another long-standing ploy in their holocaust story-tellingtechnique.
