VIENNA (EJP)--- The Jewish Community of Vienna has barred a radical ultra-orthodox rabbi who last month participated in a controversial Holocaust-denial conference organised by the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran.

Moshe Aryeh Friedmann, a member of Neturei Karta, a fringe group that rejects Zionism and the State of Israel, was accused by the Jewish Community of Vienna of harmful conduct, particularly through his contacts with "revisionist-historical, anti-Semitic circles."

In a vote, last Thursday, the community’s council decided to prevent him from entering kosher shops and receiving any services provided by the community.

The community also denied his status as a rabbi and executed a "Herem" or excommunication on him.

No ordination

While often called by the title of rabbi in the media, Friedman has never received "smicha" or rabbinical ordination.

His status as a rabbi has been challenged by Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger.

Friedman’s children are likely not to return to the Talmus Thora school run by "Machsike Hadass“ in Vienna.

Friedmann, who has often called for anti-Zionist demonstrations in Vienna, was a speaker at the Iranian government hosted-conference aimed at minimizing the Holocaust in which more than 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis.

The two-day meeting was internationally condemned.

While in Tehran Friedmann was pictured embracing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has branded the Holocaust a myth and called for the destruction of Israel.

Friedmann, who is originally from the US, has been reported as saying he prays three times daily for the disappearance of Israel "by peaceful means."

Survivor’s concern

The Jewish Community stated in the official announcement of Friedman’s ban that the "means he finances himself by are not known".

The Jewish community’s president Ariel Muzicant intially objected the step but was convinced by dozens of Holocaust survivors.

Friedman is not the only Neturei Karta who is in trouble following the Iranian Holocaust conference. His associate, Aron Cohen from Manchester, was also banished by the Jewish community and demonstrations were held in front of his home.