Any questions on the article below can be sent to Rabbis E Weissfish and Rabbi J Abramowitz at elyaw@earthlink.net.net and by viewing the unofficial site at http://geocities.com/rabbiweissfish/neturei.html.

On Sunday, Feb 11 of this year, the Central Rabbinical Congress of the US and Canada finally made its first public announcement since the current situation in the middle east began by taking out a half page ad in the New York Times and once again showing that there still exists large numbers of Jews who remain opposed to Zionism, The Central Rabbinical Congress, an umbrella organisation of around 24 communities (of which one of these communities alone, the Satmar Hasidic group is one of the largest Hasidic groups in the US with many thousands of adherents), opened the ad by noting that in the last few months for various reasons there has been spread the mistaken notion that ‘ultra’ Orthodox Jewry, are staunch supporters of maintaining sovereignty over the territories and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, it then went on to note, “Nothing could be further from truth, Two thousand years ago, at the time of the Temple’s destruction, the Jewish people were forbidden by the Creator (Talmud K’subos 111a) to exercise sovereignty over the Holy Land until the Messianic era…For over 2000 years the Jewish people accepted their exile as a divine decree. Jews never attempted a rebellion against their host nations or other peoples, there were no plans or efforts ever made to wrest the Holy Land from its rulers or inhabitants at any point in the long history of Jewish exile. The sole means employed by Jewry to end their exile throughout the ages were prayer, penance and good deeds”, then after noting that consistently, since its inception “our sages and Rabbis condemned the Zionist heresy”, it went on to distance itself from all forms of Zionism, “Thus the internecine squabbles between left and right wing Zionist, are all of irrelevancy, since the whole existence of the state of Israel is in violation of the Jewish religion. And it is certainly absurd to sacrifice even one life for this illegitimate state”, it the concluded by stating, “The goal of Torah Jewry is to live in quiet piety and dwell peacefully with all nations and peoples. Those following this agenda are not linked to any wars that are falsely depicted as Jewish wars but are, in reality, Zionist wars”.

Suprising, as it may seem however, one of the biggest branches of anti-Zionist Jews actually live in the Holy Land itself. Neturei Karta (one branch related to the larger anti-Zionist community of the Eida Chareidas), who’s US branch helped with the construction of the above ad, have since the inception of Zionism been dedicating themselves to publicizing the opposition of Orthodox Judaism to the ideology of Zionism, and have on many occasion have formally expressed their preference to live under Palestinian, rather than Zionist rule, they, and others like them, refuse to take any money from the Zionist state, neither do they participate in its elections or serve in its army, and they proclaim an annual fast, as a sign of mourning, each year on the Zionist ‘independence day’. The announcement below (translated from the original Hebrew) was for example publicized among others in the streets of Jerusalem religious neighborhoods prior to the 50th anniversary of the Zionist state, it reads:

Sackcloth and Ashes:

At the fulfillment of 50 years of Zionist rule in the Holy Land

- Jews faithful to the Creator and his Torah, non-believers in the Zionist idol worship. - will be going out into the streets of the city dressed in sackcloth.

On the bitter and terrible day 5th Iyar (‘Israel’ independence day)

To make known to the world: That the Jewish people and the state of ‘Israel’ are two complete opposites that will never be united.

Neturei Karta Of the Orthodox Jewish communities, Palestine

In fact a great part of the Jeruslamite families of Neturei Karta and other Jews, lived without problems together with their Arab and other neighbors for around 150 years before the Zionists came and started endangering the entire region through conquer and starting wars.

Taking into account all of the above it is our clear belief that the main obstacle to peace in the middle east is the Zionist ‘state’, which as long as it continues to exist will continue to endanger both Jew and non-Jew alike, since the Zionist state being in its essence a rebellion against the Creator is doomed to failure from the very beginning, as Scripture tells us: “Why do you violate G-ds order it will not succeed”. Therefore we see the only option for peace according to Judaism is that the Zionists give up rulership over the entire Holy Land.
We therefore ask the world to please not be taken in my the mistaken notion that the ‘Zionist’ leadership and their 'state’, speak or act in the name of the Jewish people, or that the Zionist ideology has any connection with the Jewish religion, Judaism is completely opposed to Zionism.

Rabbi E Weissfish & Rabbi W Weberman, Neturei Karta, Representatives of the Orthodox Jewish communities,
US, UK, Palestine and worldwide.