Menachem Lubinsky, the Agudath Israel of America honcho who is also Agriprocessors' spokesman and a kosher food industry 'expert,' plays the antisemitism card as quoted by today's…
Here's Lubinsky's quote:
A spokesman for the company, Menachem Lubinsky, said it had been unfairly singled out for labor violations that were unproven accusations. Mr. Lubinsky told The Jewish Week newspaper that Agriprocessors was facing a “Dreyfus trial in the media,” referring to the case of a Jewish military officer in France who was unfairly tried for treason in the late 19th century.
Please.
The Times pice mentions Friday's Iowa Department of Labor announcement that Agriprocessors had been cited for 31 safety violations, 7 of them repeats from the inspection done about 6 months ago. AS we saw Friday, those violations include an uncovered hole in the kill floor area large enough for a man to fall through, unguarded saws, and improper storage of gas canisters, along with many others.
The Times also mentions us:
Last month, a New York public relations firm representing Agriprocessors, 5W Public Relations, posted fake blog comments under Rabbi Allen’s name on FailedMessiah.com, a Web site that is fiercely critical of the Rubashkins, and on the Web site of JTA, the Jewish news agency. Shmarya Rosenberg, who runs FailedMessiah.com, traced the fraudulent comments on his site to a 5W address. JTA reported that one false posting in Rabbi Allen’s name came from an address belonging to a 5W executive, Juda Engelmayer.
The postings seemed intended to discredit Rabbi Allen by making him appear to use crude, arrogant language. In a statement, 5W confirmed that the postings came from its offices but said that they had been made by an intern without approval.
Actually, 5WPR was forced to admit the intern story was false. Rabbi Allen and Hechsher Tzedek have been waiting for 5WPR to apologize. Sources tell me that patience is up, and HT will file suit against 5WPR shortly.
Rabbis Debate Kosher Ethics at Meat Plant - NYTimes.com.pdf
[Hat Tip: Dr. Gershon Mendel.]