Neturei Karta

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Neturei Karta(Aramaic:נָטוֹרֵי קַרְתָּא,romanized:nāṭōrē qartāʾ,lit.'Guardians of the City') is ananti-Zionistandpro-PalestineHaredi Jewishgroup.
Founded inJerusalemin 1937 byAmram BlauandAharon Katzenelbogen, Neturei Karta was formed as an offshoot of theAguda movement. Aguda, representing the most devout of the Haredi Jewish community in theOld Yishuv, was opposed to the secular orientation and nationalism ofpolitical Zionism, which the religiously devout members of Aguda believed represented a threat to their way of life and was a rejection of Torah law. However, Blau and Neturei Karta disagreed with Aguda's accommodationist stance to Zionism in the 1930s in response toEuropean antisemitism.
Neturei Karta believes that theMessiahwill usher in a Jewishtheocracyto rule over theLand of Israel. The messiah will bring about the resurrection of the dead, the ingathering of the exiles, and a complete return toTorah law. The group, numbering in the low thousands, does not recognize the modernState of Israel, and since the 1960s has pursued relationships with entities whoseek the destruction of Israel, such as allies in the Arab world and Iran. It does not support the two-state solution.
The group's views are considered fringe, even within Haredi Jewish circles.Particularly, Neturei Karta's relationship with Iran and its attendance at theInternational Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaustdrew condemnation from other Orthodox Jewish movements.
The nameNeturei Kartameans "city guards" inAramaicand is derived from anaggadtarecorded in severalTalmudictexts, includingJerusalem TalmudHagigah1:7 (page 6 in the standardVilnaedition). There, it is related that:
The name thus reflects Neturei Karta's original mission to oppose efforts in theOld Yishuvto establish an armed force during the1936–1939 Arab revolt, arguing that such a force would be destructive and that Torah scholars are the true guards.Today, the Neturei Karta understand it to mean that they defend their interpretation ofHalakhaagainst that of other rabbis who support theState of Israel.
In theOld Yishuvunder theOttoman Empire, the religious Jewish communities primarily concentrated in the Jewish holy cities ofJerusalem,Safed,Hebron, andTiberiaslargely eschewed the secular orientation ofpolitical Zionism, which they saw as a potential threat to their way of life.They resented the new arrivals, who were predominantly non-religious, while they asserted that Jewish redemption could be brought about only by the Jewish messiah.
In 1921, some of the most devout of the Ashkenazi Old Yishuv formed theHaredi Council of Jerusalemas a counterpoint to theChief Rabbinate, created by the BritishMandatory Palestinegovernment. The Haredi saw the rabbinate as a capitulation to the secular Zionists and their nationalist aspirations.
TheAguda movementrepresented by the Haredi Council opposed the formation of aJewish political statein theLand of Israeland discouraged its European members fromimmigrating to Palestine. However, in the 1930s, the movement adopted a more compromising and accommodationist approach to the Zionist movement in response to rising antisemitism in Europe. Aguda's leniency was too much for RabbiAmram Blau, active in Aguda's Jerusalem chapter. Along with Rabbi Aharon Katzenelbogen, Blau split with the Aguda in 1937 and co-founded Chevrat HaChayim, quickly renamed Neturei Karta.
After thecreation of the modern State of Israelin 1948, Neturei Karta refused to recognize the Israeli government or any of its institutions. The group began holding public protests that often turned violent over what they perceived as the secularization of Jerusalem, the violation ofShabbatin ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, and public gender mixing.
After theSix Day War, Neturei Karta began cultivating friendly relationships in theArab world. In 1969, the group protested Israel outside theUnited Nations, then in 1970 held a similar protest with the newPalestine Liberation Organization(PLO). Then Neturei Karta leaderMoshe Hirschbefriended PLO leaderYasir Arafat, who many Israelis viewed as their public enemy number one. Arafat appointed Hirsch to the symbolic position of Jewish affairs minister, receiving a $30,000 monthly salary.Two Neturei Karta members participated in a 2004 prayer vigil for Arafat outside thePercy Military HospitalinParis,France, where he lay on his death bed,an act widely condemned by other Orthodox Jewish organizations, including many other anti-Zionist Haredi organizations, both in New York and Jerusalem. Hirsh attended Arafat's funeral in Ramallah.
Generally, members of Neturei Karta are descendants ofHungarianJews andLithuanian Jewswho were students of theGaon of Vilna(known asPerushim) who had settled in Jerusalem in the early nineteenth century. In the late nineteenth century, their ancestors participated in the creation of new neighborhoods outside the city walls to alleviate overcrowding in the Old City, and most are now concentrated in the neighborhood ofBatei Ungarinand the largerMeah Shearimneighborhood. Members of theMalachimare also prominently represented within Neturei Karta.
Neturei Karta is notoriously vague about its size, and there are no official population statistics available, in 1971, it was reported to consist of several hundred families in Israel and throughout the diaspora.As recently as 2007, the group was reported to have a few thousand members.Haaretzestimated in 2024 that the group had a membership in the low thousands, predominantly in Israel, but also in diaspora locations with large populations of ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The group's strong anti-Zionist stance and controversial tactics place Neturei Karta on the fringe, even inHaredi, or ultra-Orthodox circles. Other movements, includinganti-Zionistsects like theSatmar, have disavowed Neturei Karta and condemned its activities.The Satmar movement criticized Neturei Karta for attending theInternational Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaustin Tehran in 2006.During theIsrael-Hamas war, RabbiZalman Leib Teitelbaum, one of the two Grand Rebbes of Satmar, condemned Neturei Karta, calling the group's support for Hamas "a terrible desecration of God's name." RabbiYosef Yitzchak Jacobson, a leadingChabadrabbi, condemned Neturei Karta and described their actions as "like somebody marching withHitler."
One of the targets of the2008 Mumbai attackswas theNariman House, which was operated by the JewishChabadmovement. Neturei Karta subsequently issued a leaflet criticising theChabadmovement for its relations with "the filthy, deplorable traitors – the cursedZioniststhat are your friends." It added that the Chabad movement has been imbued with "false national sentiment" and criticised the organisation for allowing all Jews to stay in its centres, without differentiating "between good and evil, right and wrong, pure and impure, a Jew and a person who joins another religion, a believer and a heretic." The leaflet also criticised the invitation of Israeli state officials to the funerals of the victims, claiming that they "uttered words of heresy and blasphemy." The leaflet concluded that "the road [Chabad] have taken is the road of death and it leads to doom, assimilation and the uprooting of the Torah."
Jewish groups often accuse Neturei Karta of selling out their fellow Jews by allying with antisemitic groups and using their appearance at rallies astoken Jews.
Neturei Karta stress what is said in themussafShemona Esrei("The Standing Prayer") ofYom Tov, that because of their sins, the Jewish people went into exile from theLand of Israel("umipnei chatoeinu golinu meiartzeinu"). Additionally, they maintain the view that any form of forceful recapture of the Land of Israel is a violation of divine will.They believe that the restoration of the Land of Israel to the Jews should happen only with the coming of the Messiah, not byself-determination, and some believe that the introduction of less-observantJews would cause problems in the sacred land as defined by theTorah.
Neturei Karta believes that theMessiahwill usher in a Jewish theocracy to rule over the Land of Israel. The messiah will bring about theresurrection of the dead, theingathering of the exiles, and a complete return to Torah law.
Neturei Karta believe that the exile of the Jews can end only with the arrival of the Messiah, and that human attempts to establish Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel are sinful. In Neturei Karta's view, Zionism is a presumptuous affront againstGod. Chief among their arguments against Zionism is theTalmudicconcept of the so-calledThree Oaths, extracted from the discussion of certain portions of the Bible. It states that a pact consisting of three oaths was made between God, the Jewish people, and the nations of the world, when the Jews were sent into exile. One provision of the pact was that the Jews would not rebel against the non-Jewish world that gave them sanctuary; a second was that they would not immigrate en masse to theLand of Israel. In return, the gentile nations promised not to persecute the Jews. By rebelling against this pact, they argued, the Jewish people were engaging in rebellion against God.
The Neturei Karta synagogues follow the customs of theGaon of Vilna, due to Neturei Karta's origin within theLithuanianrather thanHasidicbranch ofHaredi Judaism. Neturei Karta is not a Hasidic but aLitvishgroup; they are often mistaken for Hasidim because their style of dress (including ashtreimelonShabbos) is very similar to that of Hasidim. This style of dress is not unique to Neturei Karta, but is also the style of other Jerusalem Litvaks, such as RabbiYosef Sholom Eliashivand his followers. Furthermore,Shomer Emunim, a Hasidic group with a similar anti-Zionist ideology, is often bundled together with Neturei Karta. Typically, the Jerusalem Neturei Karta will keep the customs of the "OldYishuv"of the city of Jerusalem even when living outside of Jerusalem or even when living abroad, as a demonstration of their love for and connection to the Holy Land.
In July 2013, theShin Betarrested a 46-year-old member of Neturei Karta for allegedly attempting tospyon Israel forIran. As part of aplea deal, the man was sentenced to 41⁄2years in prison.Neturei Karta has denied that he had ever been a member of their group.
Neturei Karta's website states that its members "frequently participate[s] in public burning of the Israeli flag." On the Jewish holiday ofPurim, Neturei Karta members have routinely burned Israeli flags in celebrations in cities such asLondon,BrooklynandJerusalem.
While many in Neturei Karta chose to simply ignore theState of Israel, this has become more difficult.Some took steps to condemn Israel and bring about its eventual dismantling until the coming of theMessiah. Chief among these wasMoshe Hirsch, leader of an activist branch of Neturei Karta, who served inYasser Arafat's cabinet as Minister for Jewish Affairs.
Neturei Karta supports a sovereignPalestinian statein the present, however, argues for complete Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land upon the arrival of the Messiah.
In addition to halakhic opposition to the organization of a Jewish state in the Holy Land, Neturei Karta also criticizes Israeli policies of aggression towards Palestinian people, stating that the "brutal treatment of the Palestinian people [...] is in violation of the Torah."They have rejected the claim that Israel is democratic, citing what they refer to as racist, genocidal treatment of Palestinians.They call for the return of all Palestinian refugees to "their rightful land" and attribute the degradation ofJewish-Muslim relations, as well as the bloodshed of both Arabs and Israeli Jews, to Zionism, claiming that before the creation of Israel, both peoples lived together in peace.
Almost a year after theGaza War, a group of Neturei Karta members crossed intoGazaas part of theGaza Freedom Marchto celebrate JewishShabbosand show support for Palestinians.
In January 2023, three members of Neturei Karta met with prominentPalestinian Islamic Jihad(PIJ) officials and families of Palestinian militants during a visit to theJenin refugee camp. The Neturei Karta members also visited the home of Bassam al-Saadi, who was jailed by Israel for PIJ leadership activities.Upon their return to Israel, Israeli authorities arrested two of the Neturei Karta members for unlawful entry toArea Aof the West Bank.The Satmar rebbe publicly denounced the group for their conduct, remarking in his speech that "It is a terrible desecration of God's name to support murderers in the name of the holy Torah and God's name."
Neturei Karta asserts that the mass media deliberately downplays their viewpoint and makes them out to be few in number. Their protests in America are usually attended by, at most, a few dozen people. In Israel, the group's protests typically attract several hundred participants, depending on the nature of the protest and its location.
During the 2023Israel–Hamas war, Neturei Karta regularly participated in pro-Palestinian protests, castigating Israel in harsh terms. The bulk of the group's statements at the protests do not reference its halakhic opposition to Israel, but publicly appear close to the views of left-wing American Jewish groups such asIfNotNowandJewish Voice for Peace.
In October 2005, Neturei Karta leader RabbiYisroel Dovid Weississued a statement criticising Jewish attacks onIranianPresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad. Weiss wrote that Ahmadinejad's statements were not "indicative of anti-Jewish sentiments", but rather, "a yearning for a better, more peaceful world", and "re-stating the beliefs and statements ofAyatollah Khomeini, who always emphasized and practiced the respect and protection of Jews and Judaism."
In March 2006, several members of a Neturei Karta's faction visitedIran, where they met with Iranian leaders, including the vice-president, and praised Ahmadinejad for calling for the "Zionist regime" occupying Jerusalem to vanish from the pages of time. The spokesmen commented that they shared Ahmadinejad's aspiration for "a disintegration of the Israeli government".In an interview with Iranian television reporters, Rabbi Weiss remarked: "The Zionists use the Holocaust issue to their benefit. We, Jews who perished in the Holocaust, do not use it to advance our interests. We stress that there are hundreds of thousands Jews around the world who identify with our opposition to the Zionist ideology and who feel that Zionism is not Jewish, but a political agenda. ... What we want is not a withdrawal to the '67 borders, but to everything included in it, so the country can go back to the Palestinians and we could live with them ...".
In December 2006, members of Neturei Karta, including Yisroel Dovid Weiss, attended theInternational Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, a controversial conference held inTehran,Iranthat attracted a number of high-profileHolocaust deniers.
In his speech, Weiss explained that the occurrence of the Nazi Holocaust was irrefutable and spoke about the murder of his own grandparents at Auschwitz, but claimed that Zionists had "collaborated with the Nazis" and "thwarted...efforts to save...Jews" and expressed solidarity with the Iranian position ofanti-Zionism.Yonah Metzger, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, immediately called for those who went to Tehran to be put into 'cherem', a form of ex-communication.Subsequently, theSatmar Hassidismcourt called on Jews "to keep away from them and condemn their actions".
On 21 December, theEdah HaChareidis rabbinical councilof Jerusalem also released a statement calling on the public to distance itself from those who went to Iran. The Edah's statement followed, in major lines, the Satmar statement released a few days earlier.In January 2007, a group of protesters stood outside the Neturei Karta synagogue inMonsey, New York, demanding that they leave Monsey and move to Iran. Neturei Karta and their supporters from Monsey's Orthodox community responded with a counter-protest.
In theUnited States, the Neturei Karta were led byMoshe Ber BeckofMonsey, New Yorkuntil his death in 2021. They affiliate with the radical branch that was led by Moshe Hirsch. Beck had courted controversy by meeting withNation of Islamleader MinisterLouis Farrakhan,who has been accused of incitingantisemitismand of describingJudaismas a "gutter religion" (Farrakhan says his words were misinterpreted).In addition, after meeting with the representatives from Neturei Karta, Farrakhan indicated he would be more cautious in his choice of words in the future.
A radical breakaway factioncalledSikrikimis based in Israel, mainly inJerusalemandBeit Shemesh. The group's engagement in acts of vandalism, "mafia-like intimidation" and violent protests caused several people, including authority figures, to push for officially labeling them as aterrorist group, along with Neturei Karta.