Judaism vs. the Zionist state of Israel

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weis, Spokesman of the Neturei Karta USA explains the difference between the two concepts:Show more

"We have a message for this Nakba Day, for this 75 years of occupation. We want the world to know that what is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people, the oppression, the subjugation, the terrible cruelty, is not in the name of our religion. It is not in the name of the Star of David. It is not in the name of the Jewish people around the world who are true to the Jewish religion. Because we are Jewish and because we are true to our religion, we are in total opposition to the existence of the Zionist state of Israel. I call it a Zionist state of Israel because it is Zionist. It is not Jewish. Judaism in the Torah forbids Jews to have our own sovereignty, our own entity, since the destruction of the temples and Jews true to the Torah never aspire or try to have our own state.

We also are forbidden to kill or to steal. The whole concept of taking this land away from the Palestinian people, it is totally antithetical and is contradictory to my religion Judaism. Jews have always from day one stood up against this Zionist entity. We as Jews continue because we are true to the Torah we stand and demonstrate and we cry and suffer and feel the suffering of the Palestinian people. We want the world to know we are in solidarity, we are together with the Palestinian people in their suffering, and we hope and pray to God constantly for the total end of the occupation. We want the world to know that the Zionist movement is not a Jewish movement, it was a political material movement created by heretics, and they simply try to incorporate our religion in order to intimidate and silence people and call them anti-Semitic if they stand in opposition. But this is patently false. Anti-Semitic is supporting the state of Israel.

It is a cause of exacerbating anti-Semitism by having this occupation. It is a cause of the bloodshed of the Palestinians and Jews alike. It is the cause of the oppression of not only the Muslims and the Christians in Palestine But of the Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews Stand in Palestine and have lived there prior to the state, they have lived and they're continuing to live till today and Demonstrate daily and get brutally beaten and arrested. This is the sad story of this terrible Nakba. It is a tragedy, a calamity, and God with His compassion, we hope, will see the suffering. And even today, the last few days, how you see daily the death and suffering of the Palestinians and the attacks. It's all Zionism, not Judaism. God with His compassion should bring a speedy removal of the Zionist state of Israel so we can once again live together in harmony, Jews and Arabs, as we've had for all these hundreds and hundreds of years, and Jews could show their gratitude to the Arab and Muslim countries for their embracing Jews and giving them a home.

Inshallah, soon in our days. Amein. Asalaamu Alaikum."