<p><em>This piece was originally written for a German language Christian magazine. Since the publisher does not object to my republishing my pieces in English, I’ve decided to share it here.</em></p><div><figure><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a><source type="image/webp"><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3-4s!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png" width="1456" height="1016" alt=""></a></source><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!3-4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b252880-3fb3-4ba2-8c7d-be72f5633ae6_1960x1368.png"></a></figure></div><p>Amongst the crowds at large Palestine solidarity protests in places like London and New York, one will reliably find a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews, with their beards, sidelocks, large black hats and coats, who join these protests with signs like: “Judaism and Zionism are diametrically opposed”. This sight may be quite a shock to onlookers, not least of all to many Jews! Who are these Orthodox Jews expressing solidarity with the Palestinian cause? Why do they so passionately hold to views that a significant proportion of Jews would consider anti-Semitic?</p><p>These are members of Neturei Karta, a radically anti-Zionist and deeply conservative group of Orthodox (or ‘Haredi’) Jews. They are by no means the only Jews, religious or otherwise, hostile to the State of Israel. However, before delving into that, one must first understand the somewhat complicated history of Zionism actually is, and how it relates to world Jewry.</p><p>Zionism is, simply put, the belief that the State of Israel should exist. Or to say the same thing in somewhat more nuanced terms, it is the position that Jews should have their own nation-state. It was the brain-child of Theodore Herzl, a secular Austrian Jew who, in the late 1800s came to the conclusion that establishing a nation-state in the historical homeland of the Jews, Israel, was the only solution to anti-Semitism. Initially, his movement was opposed by most Jews for a range of reasons. Religious Jews objected to the secular character of Zionism. Meanwhile many secular Jews were offended by what they took to be its endorsement of the anti-Semitic tenet that Jews were inherently alien and unassimilable to the countries they were citizens of.</p><p>What changed this was the rising tide of violent anti-Semitism in the early 20<sup>th</sup> Century, which climaxed in the Holocaust in the 1940s, when Germans and other Europeans carried out a genocide that cost six million Jewish lives. Not only did the scale and inhuman cruelty of this atrocity shift the opinion of world Jewry on the need for their own nation-state, but the fact that it was instigated by Germany. German Jews were highly assimilated, and many Jews had viewed Germans generally as too civilized to be taken in National Socialism. That they could elect Hitler, a man who saw communism as ‘Jewish’ because Karl Marx was a Jew (despite his being an atheist raised in a Christian household who advocated Jewish assimilation) seemed like the ultimate confirmation of all that Herzl had said. So powerful was the impact of the Holocaust, that the World Agudath Israel – the chief representative body of Haredi Jews and previously opposed to Zionism – came to a co-operative understanding with the State of Israel shortly after its founding. With time, increasingly many religious Jews came to see the State of Israel as a religious project, and the furtherance of Zionism as a religious duty.</p><p>In the intervening 80 years, Zionism has continued to maintain a hegemonic position amongst Jews, both secular and religious, both within Israel and in the diaspora. For many Jews, anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are synonymous. This is an equation pushed by the Israeli government, and it is obviously an easy way to silence critics. It is, however, very understandable that many Jews feel this way. Anti-Semites today are, by and large, anti-Zionist. In the West, Hitler-nostalgics use ‘Zionist’ as a catch-all for those who oppose them. Terror attacks indiscriminately targeting Jewish civilians, like those perpetrated so dramatically and tragically on October 7 2023, are conducted in the name of Islamic or Arab resistance to ‘Zionism’. When Jews are being randomly slaughtered in the name of anti-Zionism, it is easy to miss the nuance in the distinction between a Zionist and a Jew.</p><p>On the other hand, the State of Israel’s treatment of Arabs in the region, particularly in Gaza over the past few years, has also led a notable minority of Jews to turn against Zionism. Examples of this kind of secular and humanistic Jewish opposition to Zionism are groups like <em>Jewish Voice for Peace. </em>However, Neturei Karta and religious groups like them are not of this kind. Their opposition to Zionism is far more deep rooted. They object to Zionism on foundational, religious grounds that are not dependent on the State of Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians and others. After all, there are many Zionist critics of Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza – like Noam Chomsky, Bernie Sanders and Yair Golan. This is not to say that Neturei Karta do not denounce the treatment of the Arabs. They are, indeed, very vocal about it. But for them, the very existence of the State of Israel is an affront to God.</p><p>Today, the sight of Jewish religious fundamentalists harassing and assaulting Palestinians in the West Bank is a familiar sight in news broadcasts. It may then be very surprising to read that there are ultraconservative rabbis who reject the entire enterprise of Zionism, and not merely because Israel is a secular state. That said, for many of these Jews, a Jew is an adherent of the religion of Judaism and a secular Jew is no Jew at all. According to their position, the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel and the expulsion of the Jews from their homeland was by the command of God. They hold that Jews are enjoined, by sacred order, to live as loyal subjects of whatever gentile authorities they live under so long as these do not persecute them. They are forbidden from reclaiming their homeland by force. Furthermore, they believe that an authentically Jewish political entity in Israel will not be established until the coming of the Messiah. Indeed, for these religious Jews the interminable violence in and around Israel is a divine sign that its establishment is in contravention of these Jewish laws. A Jewish polity founded by the coming Messiah could not entail the suffering and brutality that the region has seen. It is important to remember that while Christians regard Jesus Christ as the Messiah, Judaism believe the Messiah has yet to come. These positions are based on the Talmud (the commentaries through which Judaism interprets the Torah or what Christians regard as the Old Testament). What is more, these beliefs were almost universally upheld by rabbis prior to the 20<sup>th</sup> Century.</p><div><figure><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a><source type="image/webp"><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!akIp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg" width="1456" height="1456" alt=""></a></source><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a><div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a></div><a href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/%24s_!akIp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbfb89e1c-a3ce-4710-b93a-5c5dee2cf572_447x447.jpeg"></a></figure></div><p><em>Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, founder of Satmar.</em></p><p>Neturei Karta is, by virtue of their intense commitment to activism, the most high-profile of the anti-Zionist Haredi groups it is not the largest, far from it. In fact, Neturei Karta’s radicalism has perhaps limited its growth. The largest anti-Zionist Haredi group is by far Satmar. Indeed, with a membership of up to 300,000 Satmar is the single largest, and also wealthiest, Haredi organization in the world. There is also the large Edah HaChareidis, which although based in Israel refuses to participate in the Zionist project in any way. This means that they do not accept any financial support from the state even if this means living in poverty, forbid participating in Israeli elections, and resolutely reject serving in the military. Then there are smaller groups like Toldos Aharon, who are known for their fervent religious observation, considered stringent even by the strict standards of Haredi Judaism.</p><p>Groups like these categorically rejects Zionism on the same religious grounds as Neturei Karta, and has been supportive of some of Neturei Karta’s activities. Others, however, they deem too extreme. Neturei Karta has a history of reaching out to Israel’s opponents, like Hamas and the Islamic Republic of Iran. On one occasion, a Neturei Karta leader shared the stage with Holocaust deniers. Neturei Karta’s reply is that they do not do these things to promote hatred of Jews or to deny the Holocaust, but to show the true face of Judaism to those who most need to see it, and so undo the damage done by Zionism – which they see as the greatest cause of anti-Semitism in the world today.</p><p><a href="https://politicalperennialism.substack.com/p/strict-orthodox-jews-against-israel?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><div><div><div><p>Political Perennialism is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><div><div></div><div></div></div></div></div><p></p>
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