Members of fringe Jewish sect spend weekend in Gaza to show support for Palestinians

Radical Jewish sect spends Sabbath in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Several members of an anti-Zionist Jewish sect have spent the Jewish Sabbath in Gaza with some of Israel’s most bitter enemies, the militant Islamic group Hamas.

Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a leader of the radical Neturei Karta, said Saturday that his group was in Gaza to show support for the Palestinian people.

The sect decries Israel’s existence because they believe Jews must live in exile without a country of their own until the coming of the Messiah.

Neturei Karta traditionally supports Israel’s enemies — most notably Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom members hugged at a Holocaust denial conference in 2006.

They are estimated to have up to a few thousand followers and are mostly shunned by mainstream Judaism.