Neturei Karta, Shunned by Media, Makes Jewish Anti-Zionism Known

by Mitchell Kaidy

There it was in the Sunday New York Times on an editorial page that usually trumpets hard-line Zionist views, an ad branding Israel “an illegitimate state” and baldly declaring: “All forms of Zionism, be they of the ‘right’ or ‘left,’ are inherently antithetical to the teaching of our faith.”

As unexpected as it was to read such blunt sentiments in the Times, the eighth-of-a-page ad was even more bracing in that it was not published by Palestinians or other Arabs. The Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S. and Canada, and its affiliate, Neturei Karta, have been publishing such “heresy” for 20 years, signing it, and, in case anyone should dissent, providing two telephone numbers.

But what is true “heresy” ? The real heretics, it insisted, are the Zionists who don’t understand or abide by the teaching of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). For, according to the Torah, “the Jewish people have no ‘claim’ to the Holy Land at present. They have no right to conquer it or to rule over it.” The Torah connects the advent of “Israel” with the coming of the Messiah, not with a conquest of arms or armies as the Zionists have done.

During a 20-year educational campaign, Neturei Karta had proclaimed in advertisements similar to the Times ad: “There can never be real peace there until Zionism disappears.” The most fer-vent Palestinian nationalist couldn’t have phrased such convictions more directly or unabashedly. But, coming from rabbis, such sentiments tend to excite a few extra shock waves.

Despite the fact that theirs has been a long-term educational effort, it unquestionably still rankles many Times subscribers. For days after the latest ad appeared in July 1996, the Rabbinical Congress’ two Brooklyn telephone lines were tied up, and, according to H. Karchmer, who wouldn’t identify himself further, many called to protest. Undaunted, the Rabbinical Congress is mailing collections of its ads to those who request them. The collections, which are free from 85 Division Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11211, come in a portfolio entitled “Jews, Not Zionists.” “Not” is underscored in color.

The Central Rabbinical Council’s ad in last year’s Times was even more provocative than this year’s. Signed by Neturei Karta, it laid out such convictions as “All Palestine should be returned to the Palestinians, and other occupied lands should be returned to their owners. And the Zionist enterprise should cease to exist. Only then will the misery wrought by Zionism disappear.”

“The majority of religious Jewry are opposed to Zionism.”

There seems to be no thicket that the Rabbinical Congress, or its Neturei Karta affiliate, is afraid to enter. How many others dare accuse the Zionists in public of complicity in the Holocaust? “In 1941 and 1942,” a 1995 advertisement reads, “German offers to deport all European Jews to Spain were rejected by the Zionist leadership.” The offers, the ad charges, were rejected in order to assure the creation of a Zionist state in Palestine.

The group objects even to the Biblical name “Israel” being associated with the Middle East state. “Zionism must go,” it proclaims. “According to the Torah, all of Palestine should be returned to the Palestinians, and the other occupied lands in Syria and Lebanon should be returned.”

The phenomenon of organized Jews championing the Palestinian cause, and speaking the unspeakable about Israel, raises intriguing questions. Would The New York Times publish such provocative advertisements from non-Jews? Or would the Times of fervent Zionists A.M. Rosenthal and William Safire refuse to publish such an ad from non-Jews or grind the copy into unrecognizable hash?

The Neturei Karta long ago confronted the Times and took its measure. That was back in 1975, when the newspaper was so disturbed by such proposed pejoratives as “paid off” and “treacherous” in the advertisement copy that it unilaterally and without permission revised them to “rewarded” and “disturbing.” Several other changes also were made without the advertiser’s knowledge.

Since then, the differences between the Zionists and Neturei Karta have comprised an unbridgeable gulf that has never been deeper. Fundamentally, the two sides clash over the interpretation of the Torah. Neturei Karta claims that by making Torah observance voluntary, not mandatory, the Israeli government is in violation of true Judaism in such matters as proper Sabbath observance, dietary laws, marital commandments, drafting of women and, especially, the use of impermissible violence to dislodge native Palestinians from their homes and lands. Sarcastically, Neturei Karta observes in one ad that, “If you give enough money to the state of Israel or other Zionist causes, you are a ‘good Jew’.”

Provocative Views

How numerous and how large are the groups which proclaim such provocative views about Israel? The advertising campaign has referred to “hundreds of thousands” of supporters in the United States and Israel, including an unspecified number of rabbis. The advertisements affirm that the American media “make it look like all Jewry and their rabbis are Zionists, but this is false propaganda. The most important rabbis, and the majority of religious Jewry are opposed to Zionism, but their voice is not heard because of Zionist control of the American news media.” (Were it not coming from a Jewish group, this statement undoubtedly would evoke charges of anti-Semitism from the Zionists, and perhaps from the media as well.)

Neturei Karta blames “relentless Zionist pressure” for “stifling” the larger Jewish community into silence. Clearly, the fundamentalist group is on target in accusing the American media of deliberately turning away from the dissenters’ anti-Israel views. “The rabbis who have stood fast against the onslaught of Zionism are not consulted by the press, they have no public relations departments to give out news releases, they do not have the pompous commentators of the airwaves or the partisan editorial writers at their disposal,” the group stated in 1980.

Precisely on target, their observation serves as an unambiguous indictment of the one-sided and severely biased American media when it comes to Israel and the Middle East. Despite almost three decades of making known their contrarian interpretations in both English and Hebrew, Neturei Karta and the Rabbinical Congress, both serious and weighty institutions, remain virtually unknown in the United States.

As reactionary and outdated as the groups may appear to some, their peaceful and democratic motives, their fidelity to ancient truths, their spirit and refreshing candor, and their utter rejection of racism are rare and endearing traits that undoubtedly would do a lot to foster peace in the Middle East.

No wonder Yasser Arafat has pledged to appoint to his cabinet a member of Neturei Karta to supervise Jewish affairs when the Palestinians get a state.