THE PLANK APRIL 24, 2009
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Geneva, Switzerland
By far the most popular people at this week's Durban Review Conference were three ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who belong to the Hassidic sect of Neturei Karta. With their long beards and peyos (ear locks), dressed in the traditional garb of black coats and fedoras, they certainly stood out amongst the throngs of cookie-cutter diplomats. Though some of the other Jewish delegates refrained from wearing their yarmulkes at the risk of provoking anti-Semitic violence, these men walked the halls of the conference undaunted. There was something else that differentiated them from the other Jewish activists: the Palestinian flag pins they wore on their lapels, and the "Zionism = Racism" signs hung on their chests. You see, the Neturei Karta are a fringe sect who describes themselves as "the Torah-true Jews who out of loyalty to the Jewish faith strongly oppose Zionism and its outcome." Established in 1938, the sect is solely defined by their belief that Jews should only establish a sovereign state in the land of Israel when the Messiah comes, and thus any attempt to do so prematurely is a violation of divine will. Their opposition to Zionism has made them strange bed-fellows with other Israel haters, popping up at Holocaust denial conferences in Iran or protesting on the streets of Washington outside AIPAC's annual conference. Of course they wouldn't miss an Israel-bashing opportunity like this week's conference, which they attended as part of an Iranian NGO delegation. The sight of them walking the halls with bearded Iranian men and black-cloaked women was quite dissonant, to say the least. But there they were, at any panel or event at which Israel might possibly be discussed, sitting in the audience, waiting to give Jewish credence to anti-Zionist views. (They are unabashed in claiming that their views represent the real Jewish perspective on Zionism.) At one panel, I watched as an elderly Iranian woman, clad in a face-hugging hijab, leapt out of her seat when Rabbi Ahron Cohen, the group's leader, entered the room, eagerly offering him her seat; at another panel, the Iranian delegation saved a seat for him, and excitedly waved him over when he came in. At the Islamophobia panel I wrote about yesterday, when one of the Iranian questioners asked the panel to confirm that Zionism is a racist ideology, Rabbi Cohen raised his hand and responded in the affirmative, and voiced his support for Ahmedinejad's speech. It should come as no surprise then that when Ahmedinejad spoke at a private dinner after his speech to a group of Iranian NGO activists and academics, the Neturei Karta representatives were at the front of the room, right next to the man who has promised to wipe Israel off the map. According to a Hungarian journalist friend who snuck into the event, when Ahmedinejad finished speaking, everyone clamored to pose for pictures with Cohen and his two cohorts. And as much as the hundreds of Jewish activists fanned out across the Durban Review Conference to offer their opinion to journalists, the Neturei Karta were the most sought-after media spectacle, rarely walking the halls without a reporter or a camera in tow. "More than the Iranians, more than any of the other Israel haters, those Neturei Karta guys just make my blood boil," one Jewish activist told me after he was rebuffed by a journalist who instead chased after the three men. Not one to miss out on the fun, I caught up with Cohen as he and his Iranian colleagues were making their way back to their hotel. "We are here to stress the difference between Zionism and Judaism, and the fact that Zionism is by its very nature a racist concept," says the UK-based Cohen in a surprisingly genteel British accent. "It's totally against our Jewish belief, and totally against the ideals of Jewish humanitarianism. And [Ahmedinejad] brought that home to the public."Though Cohen seems to be agnostic about the need for a Jewish homeland, "that is not for us to decide," he says. "Our Jewish teaching is that we have to live as loyal citizens in whatever country we find ourselves, and to go against that is considered by us ... that is a very serious rebellion against the wish of the Almighty." Cohen actually has spiritual motivations for his positions as well. "There is a natural attraction to nationalism, particularly for Jews who are no longer interested in keeping their religion," he says. "Zionism brought a possibility for people to what they thought would be a Jewish identity without the obligation of living their lives according to the Jewish religion." Thus, in Cohen's perspective, if Zionism has actually taken people away from Jewish observance, then eradicating it would help bring people back into the fold.I ask Cohen if he feels like a patsy for people who actually hold anti-Semitic views. "We don't get that impression," he responds. In fact, he believes he is fighting anti-Semitism. "Because of the deeds and the wrong-doings of the Zionists," he says, "those who are basically inclined to anti-Semitism have said, 'Look, look what the Zionists are doing. If that is what Jews do, then our old, bigoted anti-Semitism is correct after all.'"And at that, one of Cohen's Iranian colleagues ended the interview. "We have work to do," he said, smiling. --Zvika Krieger
10 comments
zvika krieger:
Torah-true Jews who out of loyalty to the Jewish faith strongly oppose Zionism and its outcome." Established in 1938, the sect is solely defined by their belief that Jews should only establish a sovereign state in the land of Israel when the Messiah comes, and thus any attempt to do so prematurely is a violation of divine will.
george:
This sort of "specialization" reminds me ironically of how science is practised today. You have all these experts who concentrate on the study of just a small fraction of an overall discipline. For example you can have zoologists who specialize in beetles or spiders or krill or crabs. In fact by now they probably have men and women who specialize in a single species of frog that lives only in Peru.
Religious "specialists" of course have no substantive boundaries because what they preach is completely made up in their heads. Only when they come to blows with conflicting "specialists" in other denominations [or even within their own] does it come to the attention of the general public at all.
The Neturei Karta, however, are particularly surreal. They support Zionism....but not now. The Messiah will return, they insist...but not the one Chriatians and Muslims are waiting for. They keep company with folks in an Iranian NGO but sooner or later will part company when their Messiah does show up. Unless, of course, the Iranian rendition of the Messiah shows up first.
And where do the various media flock? To them of course. It's the equivalent of herpetologists flocking to Australia when an extraordinary new species of dinosaur is found.
So IS Zionism by its very nature racist? Yes they say. Why? Because that's how they created their own rendition of Judaism. The "Torah-True" Judaism.
After all, when all that matters is what you make up in your head, the sky is the limit, right? Perhaps someday the Neturei Karta will splinter into different factions respecting the return of the Messiah. Will He return on the Sabbath...or on a Wednesday instead?
It's going to be rather fun reading the reactions of Jackson and Noga and Mr Bulb Man to this absurdity.
The religious mind!
george walton
- iambiguous
April 24, 2009 at 7:54pm
Last year the Montreal Jewish community marked Jerusalem Day by its traditional annual ritual: The March to Jerusalem. Along the 10 km route which ambled among Cote St. Luc's and Hampstead's neat streets with their fine houses and well-tended flower beds, a group of Naturei Karta was standing in demonstration mode, holding signs that denounced Israel and Zionists as the great heretics against Hashem. These signs were punctuated by Palestinian flags.
Having grown in Israel, where the Jerusalem Naturei-Karta were in the habit of flying black flags on Israel's Independence Day, where they refuse to pay taxes and their lingua franca of choice is Yiddish , I am left quite unfazed by such demonstrations. I categorize them as the kinds of social or cultural manifestations which I will never be able to understand (something along the lines of Reverend Wright's "God Damn America" position). I mean, how can you possibly explain a sign that recommends: "Jews submit to the nations of the world, from Canada to Palestine"? Who, in their right minds, would choose dhimmitude over independence and freedom?
Well, they have a right to their opinion. In Israel, they are not half as docile as they are here. There they are not beyond throwing rocks on cars driving on Shabbat, vandalizing bus stops where an ad shows a woman's bare body in a bikini, or, as happened to someone I personally knew, empty a bucket of dirty water over a woman who dared to walk in the streets of Me'a Shearim holding her fiance's hand. So there might be something to be gained from Jewish independence after all, right? I can't imagine them behaving in this aggressive way in Montreal. So much, then, for their exhortation on behalf of Jewish subjecthood.
As my eight-year old daughter and I were walking by this pathetically ridiculous parade, I heard one of them yelling in our direction: Pritzes!
"Pritze" is a Yiddish corruption of the Hebrew word "Prutza" which means, a whore.
Need more be said?
- noga1
April 24, 2009 at 8:29pm
"You see, the Neturei Karta are a fringe sect who describes themselves as "the Torah-true Jews who out of loyalty to the Jewish faith strongly oppose Zionism and its outcome.""
They also oppose education for women, and all other forms of individual freedom.
In fact they are anti-Modernist reactionaries. They are also the Jewish equivalence of Islamicism. This is why the Iranian regime loves them.
The fact that some extreme leftists have embraced them means that they too have become reactionaries.
- jacksondyer
April 24, 2009 at 9:49pm
Unambiguous Jew hating ignoramus george Walton says:
“The religious mind!”
Gerogie boy exhibits all the hallmarks of the fanatical religious mind. He may think that he is antireligious but he has just substituted the Christianity of his youth for a religious form of scientifism. His perceives Judaism, which he doesn’t know, through the prism of his Christian upbringing.
- jacksondyer
April 24, 2009 at 9:55pm
george's fantasy:
www.youtube.com/watch
- noga1
April 24, 2009 at 10:06pm
MEMRI:
According to reports in the West, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toned down his speech at the Durban Review Conference, held April 22-24, 2009 in Geneva, due to public criticism.
george:
Public criticism? Nope. What really happened is this:
Neturei Karta and Ahmadinejad worked out a compromise whereby each would absorb the outrage in The Spine. They would both be clobbered, true...but less so given they would be two targets instead of one.
Okay, I'm just speculating....but Zvika Kreiger's post in The Plank seems to point in this direction, right?
gw
- iambiguous
April 25, 2009 at 12:08am
The fact that these members of Neturei Karta could come and go as they please, voice their critical sentiments on Jews and Israel without fear of persecution is quite striking. How many Iranians, Saudis, or citizens of any of the Islam or death entities, openly critical of ANYTHING Islamic are free to travel? That is if they get to live, or didn't have their tongues cut out.
Perhaps the first order of business should be to hold a world conference on government tyranny, secular or religious.
- scrubbyoak
April 25, 2009 at 12:37am
Obsessed Jew hating un-ambiguous giving advice on religion!
How appropriate.
He is a reverse religious nut who missed his calling.
- jacksondyer
April 25, 2009 at 8:47am
Sickening lot, these few. These types of religious fanatics are one of the biggest problems in Israel today.
- tomasitokc
April 26, 2009 at 3:31pm
"These types of religious fanatics are one of the biggest problems in Israel today. "
Really? Anti Zionist Messianic zealots are one of the biggest problems in Israel today? How so?
- noga1
April 26, 2009 at 8:35pm