Talk:Neturei Karta

Contents

1 "Prize" 2 View of the Jewish community 3 Numbers 4 Fatah Funds 5 Conspiracy theory

"Prize"

A Winner of the August 2004 West Dakota Prize

This entry has won the West Dakota Prize for successfully employing the expression "legend states" in a complete sentence.

View of the Jewish community

Much of the Jewish community recognizes the Neturei Karta as being anti-semetic. RK

While I agree that some members of the Jewish community have labelled Neturei Karta antisemitic, in many instances it was part of the highly charged rhetoric that often infuses internal Jewish debate. Furthermore, even Neturei Karta recognizes that Jews have a right to statehood. The debate is when and how such a state should come into being and the precise nature of the state once it does (see Va-Yoel Moshe for instance, which clarified the Satmar hasidic position on Zionism). Furthermore, they do not deny that other Jews are not Jews: they claim that their behavior is heretical. Satmar and Neturei Karta would certainly respond differently to a Reform Jew and a Christian--one is a heretic and the other is a Gentile, so one must keep kosher, not work on Shabbat, etc., while the other has no such obligation. Danny

Meir Kahane, a Zionist extremist, wanted to reintroduce the ban on sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, although for reasons of anti-Gentilism not anti-Semitism.

RK responds: the Neturei Karta [teach] hateful things about all Jews. They teach that all Jews are literally releasing demonic forces within the land of Israel, and are therefore on the side of evil incarnate, and that they thus deserved the be slaughtered by the Nazis.

Since they are Jews, does it follow they teach these things about themselves? -- Simon J Kissane

No, they don't teach hatred of themselves - but they DO teach hatred of all other Jews in the world. RK

Even mainstream Orthodox Jews from the rabbinical Council of America have now denounced the Neturei Karta as antisemitic. RK Orthodox rabbi denounces Neturei Karta as anti-Semitic (http://www.ou.org/torah/grossman/2000/031100.htm)

As I see Neturei Karta, they are an extremely marginal segment of the Jewish public, both from the point of view of sheer numbers and that of their social status in the general Jewish community. --Uriyan

Even if true -- so what? This is a page for discussion of an article about NK, not a forum for spewing at them.

Numbers

Hi Aloha. I was just wondering if you meant five or fifty thousand in the article. Also, what is your source for the number? Danny

Aloha had posted 50.000, Danny changed it to 5.000 . What is the number?

The next part was also taken out, which should be shown, especially in light of todays goings on and the previous talk, which seems to try to make them into a hate group, which they specifically reject.

Though they number just some 50000, their vociferous attacks against Zionism and Israel as a secular state have earned them considerable attention. They instead argue that the true Israel can only be reestablished with the coming of the Messiah. The Neturei Karta website shows Israeli police clobbering the Torah-True Neturei Karta. They stand for the rights of the Palestinians and have good relations with the PLO and other Palestinian and Muslim organizations. Nowhere on their website does it state, that they hate Jews or anyone else. They state that they are against the (militant) Zionists violence, against them supressing Palestinians and against the Zionists wars including the 1933 war-declaration then and the possibility of all-out war now.

Their website seems to say something to the effect of 100.000 followers? user:H.J.

user:H.J., as the person who wrote the first draft of this article I do know a little about the subject. In fact, I did not look at the website when writing the article--I based it on my own independent research on the phenomenon of Neturei Karta, my close personal interactions with members of the community, and my readings and interpretations of their own texts and the texts of sociologists and anthropologists who studied them.

To clarify some of the points you bring up: a website is hardly an informative account of a group. Anybody can put up a website and say whatever they want about anything, including themselves. It is an interesting source of information, no doubt, but the Internet per se is not always a reliable source. As regards Neturei Karta, I have a lot of problems with the website. For one, it is based in America, when the overwhelming majority of genuine Neturei Karta members live in Jerusalem. Then, of course, the vast majority of members of Neturei Karta would not own a computer, since this would bring them into contact with the outside world, and that is something they shun. The numbers are based on statistics from the Municipality of Jerusalem to which I have had formal access over the past few years. There are other groups which identify with Neturei Karta, but they are not Neturei Karta (Karta is an Aramaic term for "the city", meaning Jerusalem). Other anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox groups such as Satmar are not Neturei Karta.

I removed the section beginning with "The Neturei Karta website shows ... " Yes it does. Do you know why they were "clobbered"? Because they were throwing rocks and bottles at cars driving on a highway in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. They wanted the highway to be closed for the Sabbath. An ambulance carrying a heart attack victim was hit with one of their rocks. How do I know this? I was there. Despite what the website implies, they were not "clobbered" because they are anti-Zionist. For the most part, the Israeli government leaves them alone. They barely even collect taxes from them. As for hating Jews, if you will look in the record of this discussion, I actually rejected the notion that they were anti-Semitic. I wrote this article to offer a fair presentation of their views, even though personally I may not share them.

As for the "Zionist declaration of war," I have spoken with many Neturei Karta about many issues, including their attitudes toward Zionists, the Holocaust, and Nazism. Not one Neturei Karta member will tell you that the Jews or the Zionists initiated or sparked World War II. They do not even say that on their website. They do claim that Zionist actions made things worse for the Jews, and they do claim that the Holocaust was Divine retribution for the secular lifestyles of the Zionists. I will not get into a debate here about the way God works (if at all). I would like to examine their claim, which you seem to support. Looking at their website, which you cite, they give examples of how the Zionists made things worse. Hitler wanted to deport all the Jews from Europe to Mauritius (sounds like ethnic cleansing to me). The Zionists opposed it and they should have said yes, because in Neturei Karta's philosophy, Jews should be subservient to Gentiles until the coming of the Messiah. Now lets plug the statement into your assertion here and in the mailing list that the Holocaust was largely caused because some Jews (the Zionists) refused to be ethnically cleansed. Sorry, but that is anti-Semitic, and I do not use that term lightly. If I were to say that the German residents of Prussia were justly killed after World War II because they did not want to be expelled from Prussia, you could rightfully call me racist. How is the case of Jews in Europe any different.

An interesting anecdote is that Ruth Blau, the widow of the late leader of Neturei Karta, Rabbi Amram Blau, is a French Catholic convert to Judaism. She met her husband when she part of the French underground, helping to smuggle Jews out of Europe during the Nazi reign of terror. She would never tell you that the Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, even if she would say that the Holocaust was God's retribution for the sins of some Jews, including the Zionists.

Finally, user:H.J., like everyone has already said: Examine your sources, examine your citations. Not every website is historically accurate. Not every historical claim has basis. I've avoided getting into this debate until now, but Helga, please realize that there are other people out there whose professional and academic fields do encompass your own interests. We also know our stuff, so if you don't want to get into vociferous arguments, please make sure your facts and interpretations are valid. Danny

---

Danny I appreciate all your information. Believe me, I did/do not want to get into this either. I do know that there are a lot more Jewish people opposed to the radical violence perpetuated by the current situation. I do know that a Lady Ambassador (name?) came from Israel was on an emergency trip and on Ted Koppel's Night Line. She warned about the militant brutal force and worse put upon by a rivaling faction against other Jews. There are ladies or grandmothers in grey (or black),opposing , with Israeli soldiers attending. There is a lot more going on, than what the official version wants you to believe. I do not wish harm on any one or any one group. Therefore I have this feeling, that getting previous happenings out in the open, can somehow make a difference. Now everyone wants to make this 1933 Declaration of War out to be a 'minor little none-issue', not worse mentioning. But when you read the wiki or any other article that says, "the Nazi's forbade Germans to buy from Jewish stores", then it makes a lot more sense to say 'why', and the 'why' is the Decleration of War. Another factor not readily mentioned, is the Deal between Germany and Jewish people (Zionists), who since before 1900 already moved to Palestine and who continued to do so under the Nazi dictatorship. They took a lot of money out of Germany and started building the Jewish State, (some program named Havala? or something like this). I would not argue about any of the loud arguments, because I do not know enough details on this. Therefore I ask questions. Which brings me to the question on the numbers again. I guess until we know, we should just leave the numbers off alltogether? user:H.J.

user:H.J., your ramblings here show that you have no idea what you are talking about, and I am being very polite in saying that. Personally, I find it insulting that you insinuate that I am a victim of some "official version" and not "the truth." Unlike you, I actually do know something about the topics mentioned here. For your information, we were talking about Neturei Karta, a reactionary group of a few thousand followers that opposes the state of Israel on principle, believing that Jews should be subservient to Gentiles until the Messiah comes. That is not some interpretation. That is what they say in their internal texts. I have read those texts. Women in Black is a grassroots organization of Israeli women opposed to the occupation of the West Bank. Yes, many Israelis are disturbed by the violence in Israeli society. I am also deeply concerned about the violence in Israeli society. This has little to do with Neturei Karta. It has to do with the Occupation. Period. Hitler and the Nazis did not forbid Germans to buy from Jews because of the so-called "Declaration of War." That is asinine. Are you ignoring Mein Kampf? Are you ignoring the Nazi campaign platform prior to Hitler coming to power? Are you ignoring Hitler's speeches and writings. We have records of all of them. We even have the records of Hitler's first public appearance at the German Worker's Party. (I have a copy in my office, if you'd like.) It was an anti-Semitic diatribe, plain and simple. It was also before any Nazi was elected to the Reichstag. Jews did not have any deal with the German government to move to Palestine. They fled Germany because of rampant anti-Semitism. As for your dates, political Zionism was founded in 1896. Herzl, the founder of the movement, negotiated unsuccessfully with the Kaiser to get a German protectorate in the region so that Jews could settle there. Until the 1930s, Jewish immigrants to Palestine came from Russia, not Germany. As for taking money out of Germany, they were fleeing for their lives. Some managed to take money out. Most did not. Most could not. It was illegal. Many spent all their money paying bribes to officials to get their children to England. It was called the Kindertransport. I am glad you admit you don't know much about this topic. It so happens that I do. As for the number of Neturei Karta members, at least you admit that you do not know it. Once again, I have studied this issue. I do have reasons for the numbers I give, and not just some stupid website. If you don't know the subject matter, don't writre about it. Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it beyond a doubt. A very irate Danny

Once again, we are playing the numbers game. Okay, here is some information for all of you. Neturei karta refers to a very specific group of anti-Zionist Jews. There are many groups of anti-Zionist Jews and they are just one of them. What makes them special is a) they are particularly vociferous; and b) they live in Jerusalem and in Jerusalem only. They have lived there for as many as ten generations, and are descended of a particular group of Hungarian Jews that immigrated there long before the Zionist waves of immigration, which began in 1882. Other groups may have adopted the philosophies of Neturei Karta, but they are still not Neturei Karta. For example, the Satmar hasidic group is also vociferously anti-Zionist for the same religious reasons. They number about 100,000. They are still not Neturei Karta though. Oh, and for the various websites--no self-respecting member of Neturei Karta would own a computer, never mind surf the web. Danny 01:28 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

Yes, but they do like their views to be disseminated and represented without "distortion". A representative speaking on the BBC two weeks ago never hesitated to state his group's website address... They probably have internet companies doing the page design & content management. JFW | T@lk 12:43, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Fatah Funds

re: Neturei Karta has, in the recent past, accepted funds from Palestinian organizations, including Fatah. now deleted, "such a claim is unacceptable without a solid citation) "

Arafat transferred funds to Neturei Karta

by IMRA

Rabbi Moshe Hirsch, known as the "Foreign Minister" of Neturei Karta, has never hidden the fact that he prefers a Palestinian state in place of Israel - the Neturei Karta sect refuses to recognize the state of Israel until the coming of the Messiah. However, now it appears, from documents disclosed by the defense establishment, that Rabbi Hirsch has also been in the pay of PA Chairman Arafat himself.

The incriminating documents were captured in the Mukata, Arafat's headquarters, two years ago during Operation Defensive Shield. While looking for PA efforts to fund terror organizations, security officials discovered that large amounts of money had been transferred to the Neturei Karta sect in Jerusalem. The captured documents show that Hirsch received from Arafat $55 thousand just two months before Operation Defensive Shield. Among the documents are receipts with Arafat's personal signature authorizing the transfer to Rabbi Hirsch under the heading "outgoing expenses". In the same period, Arafat allocated a much lower sum to terror operatives.

The captured documents include letters written in English by Hirsch to Arafat. The letters are addressed as to an eminent rabbi: "Dear Abu Amar (Arafat's Arabic name), may you live a long and happy life".

Hirsch has never hidden his relationship with Arafat. He is a regular member of the Palestinian National Council and served in the past as Minister of Jewish Affairs in a Palestinian government. Members of the sect recently demonstrated against Israel and for Palestine at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.

Rabbi Hirsch's son denounced the allegations as "evil slander" and denied all financial links with Arafat.

<http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=RTTnaW.var>

(I have no strong opinions one way or the other, I just found this, so please nobody get on my case, thanks) Gzuckier 21:28, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

However, idle musing: wouldn't we all rather have Arafat sending his money to Neturei Karta than 'terror operatives'? Gzuckier 21:28, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I did ask for a solid citation, but when I went to the IMRA site I found "news articles" like "Not a hoax: Palestinian human rights group demands prisoners be enable to run terror operations" - a blatant lie. So we aren't going to accept information derived from that mob. Besides, expenses incurred as PNC delegate and Minister are perfectly reasonable choices for reimbursement and $55K is not a large sum of money. --Zero 04:06, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Conspiracy theory

A rotation group of anonymous users keeps on inserting a conspiracy theory that the public denouncement advertisements were placed by someone misrepresenting the signatories. However, none of these organisations later went on the record to state that they had been misrepresented. I will therefore keep on reverting this insertion until such evidence is advanced. JFW | T@lk 10:32, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)