Rabbis pray for Palestinian return and dismantling of state of Israel
Orthodox jews of Neturei Karta in beirut for conference
Thursday, February 24, 2005
BEIRUT: Four rabbis answered unequivocally in Beirut Wednesday with a resounding "yes" as to whether Palestinians should have full sovereignty over all of the Holy Land and to the Palestinian refugees' right to return.
"We demand without compromise the peaceful, concrete dismantling of the state of Israel ... it should be removed, and self-rule should be returned to the Palestinian people. We pray and hope this happens peacefully and speedily in our time," said Rabbi Yisrael Dovid Weiss from the Neturei Karta International (NK) organization, the Aramaic term for Guardians of the City.
The rabbis or "Jews United Against Zionism" - as they call themselves - are all members in NK and were participating in a three-day conference that gathered Arab parliamentarians, sheikhs, priests and scholars at Beirut's Safir Heliopolitan Hotel to discuss the Palestinian refugees' right to return.
"One area of our religion is that subject to certain conditions we will be given a land, the Holy Land, now known as Palestine ... the conditions were that we had to maintain the highest level of moral, ethical and religious standards," said Rabbi Ahron Cohen, from London's NK branch.
The Jewish people did have the land for the 1,500 years of their existence, and have been in a state of exile decreed by the Almighty for the last 2,000 years because they did not maintain the standards God expected from them, explained Rabbi Cohen.
"It is a basic part of our belief," he added, "to accept willingly the heavenly decree of exile and not to try and fight against it or end it by our own hands.
Rabbi Weiss, from the New York NK branch, explained that "Jews were expressly forbidden to make any attempt to go back en masse as a nation, or to rebel against any nation or to attempt in any manner to end their exile to avoid tragic, catastrophic results."
"Torah-faithful Jews believe that at the end of days when the creator chooses to redeem all mankind, then all people will join in the worship of God ... It will be a time of universal brotherhood with its spiritual center in the Holy Land ... until then the Jewish people have a task in exile and have to accept in faith this exile," he added.
Weiss said Jews believe the Messiah will come and make people repent, and that it is very clear in Judaism the time and place of his appearance will remain unknown.
"Theodore Herzl (the father of Zionism) made some 100 years ago an attempt to end our exile; he disobeyed the teachings of the Torah and decided that he should found a country for Jews. What he wanted to do is to transform the Jewish nation from a holy and godly nation into a physical and materialistic nation ... that has nothing to do with the Jews' holiness," he added.
Zionism wants to rip Judaism from its godliness and holiness, explained the rabbi.
"That is why our religious leaders who participate in the Israeli government do not for instance raise Israeli flags on their buildings and are not members in the army," he said.
According to the rabbis, Palestinians are the victims of the Zionist movement's moral blindness and obstinate refusal to take into account the existence of others. The Palestinians, they add, have the right to their homeland and to financial restitution for property loss and damages inflicted upon them over the past decades.
Peter Spagnuolo, an American journalist who frequently writes about the Neturei Karta, explained that it is very likely to run into Rabbi Weiss and his colleagues burning an Israeli flag in the heart of New York City, with no media attention.
"The reason could be that the media in the [United] States shy away from anything that requires a certain level of education and because a lot of the Orthodox Jews keep it quiet as they are busy with their lives, but still they oppose the state of Israel and pray for its speedy [and] peaceful dismantlement," said Spagnuolo.
Neturei Karta believes the true Israel can only be re-established with the coming of the Messiah. They number some 5,000 and are concentrated in Jerusalem. Other, larger NK-associated groups can be found in Israel, London, New York City and upstate New York.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_ID=1&article_ID=12930&categ_id=2
