Neturei-Karta: JUDAISM UNADULERATED

By Abdussalam Mohamed

Neturei-Karta is Aramaic for "Guardians of the City." It is also the name of an Orthodox movement that defines itself by opposing Zionism and the state of Israel. The group makes a point of publicly demonstrating their position, which they claim represents the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism. Neturei-Karta was founded in Jerusalem in 1938 for the purpose of fighting Zionism. The group believes that the rest of Orthodox Jews sold out to the "Golden-Calf" of Zionism by embracing its ideology that is built on dispossessing the Palestinians and occupying their land. Many followers of the group are still being persecuted by the Israeli authorities for their political views. They firmly believe that Israel should be peacefully abolished and the land returned to the Palestinians. Neturei-Karta’s Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss spoke to InFocus.


InFocus: Rabbi, can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

Rabbi Weiss: My name is Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, spokesperson for Jews United Against Zionism, also known as Neturei-Karta. This is a group that opposed Zionism when its followers started going en mass to the land of Palestine in the 1930s. Jews were opposed to the concept of a political Judaism; the whole concept of Zionism was new to the Jewish religion and the religious community opposed it because it tainted Judaism. Arabs and Jews co-existed in Palestine for hundreds of years, and the advent of Zionism was a threat to this peaceful co-existence and that is why religious Jews in Palestine stood up against it.

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/14071/82/