|
Neturei
Karta*
|
By
Dr. Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri
Translated by Imad Al-Ayoubi
|
23/08/2003
|
|
Members
of Neturei Karta burn the Israel flag in London
|
Editor's
note: Neturei Karta have expressed their desire their desire to
correct and clarify two issues in Dr. Elmessiri’s article. As
such, their additions shall be included in the body of the text and
shall be appropriately identified.
Although
the media currently associate Orthodox Jews with groups that support
Zionist racism, expansionism, and the establishment of settlements,
Orthodox-Rabbinic Jewry have, until recently, rejected the Zionist
movement, a rejection that is based on several fundamental
principles of the Jewish faith.
Neturei
Karta or the “Guardians of the City,” is a Jewish Orthodox group
known for being one of the staunchest religious opponents to the
Zionist state. According to Neturei Karta members, Zionism does not
represent a continuation of Jewish religious heritage or an
implementation of Jewish teachings; Zionism in their view is an evil
conspiracy against Judaism.
The
Orthodox Jewish rejection of Zionism is based mainly on the
definition of the “Jewish people” from a religious perspective.
Neturei Karta believes that the Jewish people are not a nation in
the conventional sense; rather, it is a religious group that came
into existence three thousands years ago.
Jewish
beliefs state that the Jews are God’s chosen people; however, this
privilege, according to one religious interpretation, is not to
empower Jews to control the world: God has chosen Jews to perform a
divine service in this world. Thus, they should serve humanity. Jews
were chosen not because they are an arrogant people or a victorious
group but because they are a humble and peace-loving people.
Based
on their beliefs in a common humanity and in their religious
specificity, Neturei Karta members stress that Judaism abhors the
shedding of blood and calls for avoiding this at all costs. They
also emphasize that Jewish beliefs urge Jews not to carry arms or
assume positions of power. They believe that Jews should leave such
matters to the governments under whose auspices they live. According
to the Neturei Karta, it was the Jewish insistence that Judaism is a
religious belief and not a national movement that ensured the
survival of the Jewish people.
Contrary
to these views, Zionists view the Jewish people as a nation,
entitled to carry arms and resort to violence to reclaim their pride
and self-respect. Hence, they should have an army, a navy, an air
force and a distinguishing flag. Zionists believe that Jews should
be ruled according to secular laws and that religious laws should be
forgone. Zionists even deny the sacred nature of the Torah and view
it, together with other Jewish religious books, as a kind of
folklore that should be maintained as such.
To
the Zionists, the concept of “God’s chosen people” is molded
into racist political notions that grant Jews superior status. This
superiority entitles Jews to privileges that violate the rights of
others. Therefore, they have the right to occupy Palestine and expel
its Arab population. Instead of complying with religious
injunctions, Jews should abide by prevalent secular laws whether or
not these laws are morally acceptable.
The
Jews were exiled from the Promised Land by a divinely ordained command
that cannot be rebelled against. |
|
In
contrast to the views held by members of the Neturei Karta that
religious practices define the Jewish identity, Zionists opine that
people can maintain their Jewish identity even if they deny the
presence of God or do not observe any of Judaism’s religious
practices, such as abstaining from work on Saturdays, following the
laws and regulations that pertain to marriage, and complying with
food-related injunctions, such as abstaining from the consumption of
pork. The good Jew is no longer the pious practicing Jew who follows
the teachings of his religion; it is he who spends lavishly in
support of the Zionist state. This is not surprising given the fact
that the founders of the Zionist movement rejected the Jewish
religion and never abided by its teachings or moral ethics. While
religious Jews view Hebrew as a religious language that they are
forbidden to use in worldly affairs, Zionists adopted it for daily
conversation in settlements and later as the official language of
the state.
With
regard to the Jews’ relationship with the “Promised Land,”
Neturei Karta members stress that religious Jews yearn passionately
for this deeply venerated land, the land of Zion or Eretz
Y’Israel, the Sacred Promised Land (particularly Jerusalem), and
they mention it several times during their daily prayers. They
believe that the Jewish people were exiled from the Promised Land by
a divinely ordained command that cannot be disobeyed or rebelled
against; therefore, observant Jews can do nothing but continue their
prayers until God responds to their supplications and commands their
return to the Promised Land.
[Neturei Karta adds: The end of exile and the coming of
the Messiah is not comprehendible according to present-day
thought processes and not at all similar to the Zionist
occupation. At
that time, God will change the thought processes of humankind
and all people will serve God together, in unison. There will be
no more wars and hate.]
They
also believe that it is only the Messiah who is able to establish
the Jewish state, and that, upon his return, he will establish a
kingdom of priests. As for the Zionists, they have attempted to
accelerate the process by establishing this state through force of
arms, without waiting for the will of God to effect this return.
Therefore, the state of Israel is the fruit of a sinful arrogance
because it was established at the hands of a group of disbelievers
who rebelled against the will of God. For all these reasons, Neturei
Karta members reject the state of Israel and all its institutions;
they even refuse to visit the Western Wall (the Wailing Wall)
because Jerusalem was conquered by force.
According
to Neturei Karta literature, the safety and security of Jews lies in
their ability to make peace with the countries in which they live.
Its members accuse the Zionist movement of being anti-Jewish. The
Zionist state claims that it is a state for all Jewish people and
that Jews are loyal to the Jewish state, not to the countries in
which they live. This raised the issue of dual loyalty for Jews, and
serves as justification for accusations leveled against them.
One
of the relatively unknown facts that Neturei Karta members attempt
to inform people about is that the Zionists collaborated with the
Nazis to wipe out the Jewish masses of East Europe because of their
rejection of Zionism on religious grounds. The spread of this
rejection on such a wide scale would have left Zionism devoid of any
form of legitimacy.
Neturei
Karta members [Neturei Karta: do not] believe in separating the Creator from the creation.
They lay emphasis on the human commonality between Jews and
Gentiles, which is referred to in the Talmud, notwithstanding that
some of the interpretations of the Talmud deliberately overlook
these references. Neturei Karta members’ adherence to monotheism
has protected them from backsliding into the secular paganism of the
Zionist movement.
Neturei
Karta rejects the state of Israel and its institutions, and refuses to
visit the Wailing Wall because it was conquered by force. |
|
Neturei
Karta is an international group that embraces religious Jews who
reject Zionism and its state throughout the world, including the
United States of America. This group was affiliated to the Agudat
Israel, an Orthodox movement that was established in eastern Europe
in 1912 in an attempt to unite Orthodox Jews against secular
movements, particularly Zionism. After the issuing of the Balfour
Declaration, Agudat Israel submitted a letter to the League of
Nations in protest against Zionist hegemony over the Jews in
Palestine. Its members also refused to join Vaad Leumi or the
National Council, the Zionist political entity that was supposed to
represent all the Jews in Palestine. They fought fiercely against
the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, and in 1927,
its members officially requested the League of Nations to prevail
upon the British mandate authorities in Palestine to grant religious
Jews the right to choose not to join the National Council and to
form an independent political body. Their request not to join the
Committee was granted, but they were denied the right to
independence.
However
Agudat Israel’s position gradually evolved towards reconciliation
with Zionism, and the group eventually accepted the Zionist movement
and integrated with it. Consequently, Agudat Israel spoke of the
Balfour Declaration as being inspired by the divine promise to the
Jews; later, it recognized Zionist actions as being legal and raised
funds on behalf of Zionist military organizations that sponsored the
establishment of Jewish settlements.
Because
of Agudat Israel’s support of Zionism, some of its members who
immigrated to Palestine from Germany and Poland in 1935 broke away
from the group and formed the group that later became known as
Neturei Karta.
Of
the major problems that Neturei Karta face is that the group is
opposed to the very idea of political organization. Its members see
themselves as a religious group; therefore, they view the concept of
political organization as a foreign concept, which they reject.
However, the group eventually took a stand and accused Agudat Israel
of siding with the Zionist movement and has since 1944 published its
own newspaper. Neturei Karta also started organizing its own
community, which was independent of the Zionist entity; this
community, which its unique social and economic lifestyle, was based
on religiosity and asceticism and severed all relations with Zionist
settlers.
In
the wake of the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948, Neturei
Karta sent a letter to the United Nations expressing the group’s
rejection of this state. During the battle for Jerusalem, the group
called for an armistice and for the internationalization of
Jerusalem in order for it to remain separate from the Zionist
entity. Some members of the group went as far as openly declaring
their wish to live under Jordanian rule.
Zionists
collaborated with the Nazis to wipe out the Jewish masses of East
Europe. |
|
To
date, the Neturei Karta does not recognize Israel, and on the
anniversary of the proclamation of the state, its members fast,
lower flags to half-mast, and organize protests and demonstrations.
The group takes a positive stance towards the Palestinian Liberation
Movement and the Palestinian claim to Palestine. It also declares
that its members are willing to live as a religious minority under
the rule of a Palestinian government that would ensure their
political rights. Not surprisingly, the group is subjected to
continued harassment by the Zionist authorities: Israeli police
often raid the Mea Shearim Quarter, arresting members of the group
and searching their homes. The Zionist government further attempts
to stifle the growth of this quarter in order to strangulate its
community and limit its influence.
Recently,
the Neturei Karta started to re-organize itself, intensifying its
activities and dealing more efficiently with the media and various
international organizations. The group, which now has an observer
status at the United Nations, played an important role during the
discussion of the United Nations resolution equating Zionism with
racism. It is currently undertaking a massive awareness campaign
amongst Jews and non-Jews, calling for the dismantling of the state
of Israel, the establishment of a Palestinian state that controls
all Palestinian territories, and the internationalization of
Jerusalem.
The
Neturei Karta has an administrative council that consists of seven
men who decide on issues relating to the administration of the
group’s religious and worldly affairs. The group has approximately
60,000 members, and while its biggest community is based in
Brooklyn, New York, there are other smaller communities in London,
Antwerp, Montreal and Jerusalem.
IslamOnline
has hosted a live dialogue session with Rabbi Yisroel David Weiss of
Neturei Karta. Click
here to read the dialogue.
*
Excerpted from “The Encyclopedia of Jews, Judaism, and Zionism,”
Volume 6.
|
