R O C Z N I K O R I E N T A L I S T Y C Z N Y, T. LXVIII, Z. 1, 2015, (s.

5–19)

TAL DAVIDOVICH

Enemy of Israel

Abstract

All through history Israel never lacked antagonists or enemies filled with hatred
towards Jews or towards a Jewish statehood. Reading the title, a long list of possible
enemies comes to mind. This article, however, is about an enemy that is Jewish, even
Orthodox Jewish. The article deals with a certain group of Orthodox Jews that declares
themselves to be against the State of Israel: Neture Karta.

Keywords: Judaism, Ani-Zionism, Israel, Neture Karta, Radical movement

Neture Karta opposed the establishment of and retains all opposition to the existence
of the so-called “State of Israel”!
This Statement is found on the well maintained homepage of a group of people who
call themselves by the name Neture Karta (Aramaic: The Guardians of the City).1 Reading
these words one would suspect them to be written by extremists, perhaps terrorists that
wish to declare their intention to destroy the State of Israel as they neither accept it nor
believe in its right to exist.
The reader who thinks that this is the case is certainly right. But contrary to what
most would have guessed, this group does not belong to some extreme Muslim variant
or to any of the Arab countries surrounding the State of Israel from almost all of its
sides. It does not even belong to Iran which nowadays positions itself as the main state
antagonist to the State of Israel. The members of this extreme group are entirely Jews,
Ultra-Orthodox Jew, and, true believers in the God of Israel.

1 http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/index.cfm.
6 TAL DAVIDOVICH

It is something of a paradox that religious Jewish people would be against the State
of Israel. Not only because according to the Old Testament, a holy book for the Jews,
the land of Israel was given to Abraham by God, but also, and not less important, due
to historical facts that point out to that if not for the State of Israel most of the Jewish
population of the world would have vanished in several occasions.
When one reflects on the meaning of the word “enemy” other issues pop up such
as war, nationality, racism and so on. These issues do not really fit the subject of this
article.
Neture Karta is a group of Orthodox Jews, thus belonging to the major group of
citizens in the State of Israel – the Jews. They did not establish a country of their own
and at the same time they refuse to be included as citizens of Israel and therefore are
not included as such. Accordingly, one cannot define their relations to the State of Israel
as a state of war. Some of them even live in different places in Israel though they do
not wish to acknowledge its existence.
Neture Karta members are considered by the Jewish majority as very fanatic in
their opinions and beliefs.2 It is interesting to write about them since they are so out
of the Jewish main stream, yet manage to get the attention they wish for due to their
deeds that are considered extreme both inside and outside the Jewish world. Exactly
how many individuals belong to this group it is uncertain. However, in Israel, according
to the Encyclopedia Judaica, they consist only of a few dozen families concentrated
in the Me’ah She̔arim quarter of Jerusalem and in Bnei Brak. Still, they gain support
from wider Orthodox circles by creating periodic religious controversies, such as
demonstrations against Sabbath violations and mixed bathing.3 On their mailing list,
some 500 names are found. Yet again, there is also a group that calls itself Neture Karta
International, which mostly operates outside of Israel. The members of this group that
acts in different countries are few thousands. In this article I refer to both groups as one:
Neture Karta.
Established in 1938,4 its first members were previously members of the Jewish
Orthodox political movement Agudat Israel who left it because they thought it was not
segregated enough from the Jewish Zionist Yeshuv in Israel. Their leader at that time

2 Fundamentalism exists not only in Judaism. For a thorough study on fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity
and Islam see Bruce B. Lawrence, Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Modern Age, Harper
& Row, San Francisco 1989. Lawrence also defines the starting point of the emergence of fundamentalism as
ideology among the three monotheistic religions. According to him it has started within Judaism during the last
fifty years, among the Protestants in America in the end of the 1800, and among Muslims since World War II. For
another approach to this issue see Emile Marmorstein, Religious Opposition to Nationalism in the Middle East,
“International Affairs” 1952, 28/3, pp. 344–359.
3 Menachem Friedman, Neture Karta, in: Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition, Volume 15, pp. 114–115;

Also Ha-Edah ha-Ḥaredit, 1964, Keẓ ha-Ma’arakhah; and Menachem Friedman, Neture Karta and the Sabbath
Demonstrations in Jerusalem, 1948–1950, in: Divided Jerusalem, 1948–1967: Sources, Summaries, Selected Incidents,
and Ancillary Material, ed. Avi Bareli, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 224–240 (Hebrew).
4 http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/index.cfm.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 7

was R. Chayim Zonenfeldt (1849–1932).5 Agudat Israel was not radical enough visa vi
the Yeshuv.6
In 1960 the first major split occurred, when a group of people from Neture Karta
under the leadership of Uri Blau, son to Rabbi Amram Blau, came closer to the main
Orthodox groups. This group started to collaborate with other groups among the Orthodox
Jews and thereafter refrained from calling themselves Neture Karta.
The majority of the members of Neture Karta stayed, however, in the group that
took upon itself also the name Torah veYirah, and was led by Chaim Ketsenelberg son-
in-law of Rabbi Amram Blau. This group became even more radical and extreme in their
thoughts and believes against the State of Israel. Until today this group consists of the
main stream in Neture Karta. It is also responsible to different educational institutes at
various levels from the kindergartens and until the Yeshiva.
In the beginning of the 21st century this group was divided again. This time by people
who were much more radical in their opinion against the State of Israel. As previously,
the main part has continued to function and some people left it and started a group of
their own. This group is acting until these days. It called Sikrikim and it is known of its
extreme opinions and acts. They do not reject even physical violence to promote what
they believe in, namely that the State of Israel should not exist right now. Also they
have established several educational places according to their belief.7
The name Sikrikim or as it is known in its Latin version “Sicarii” was given to this
sub-group by one named Aharon Kalizkin because of their violence against him and his
publishing house due to his critical views of them.
Sikrikim was first used for a group of radical Jews that acted in the times of the first
Jewish-Roman war. This group used much violence in their actions against the Romans
and also against Jews that were against their methods and views. They were called so
due to the small daggers “sicae”.8
Returning now to the meaning of the name of the main movement and its origin:
Neture Karta is actually a name that includes two words from the Babylonian Aramaic

5 See http://www.ynet.co.il/yaan/0,7340, L-16831.

6 See Menachem Friedman, The Haredi Ultra-Orthodox Society: Sources Trends and Processes, The Jerusalem
Institute for Israel Studies, Jerusalem 1991, pp. 88–89. (in Hebrew); and Sam Lehman-Wilzig & Giora Goldberg,
Religious Protest and Police Reaction in a Theo-Democracy: Israel, 1950–1979, “Journal of Church and State”
1983, No. 25, pp. 491–505 (497).
7 For further reading on the history of Neture Karta see among others Samuel Heilman and Menachem

Friedman, Religious Fundamentalism and Religious Jews: The Case of the Haredim, in: Fundamentalism Observed,
ed. Martin E. Marty and Scott Appleby (Chicago, 1991), 197–264; Yuval Frankel, Haredi and Religious Judaism in
Jerusalem during the Siege Period, “HaTziyonut” 1994, No. 18, pp. 247–289 (Hebrew); and Motti Inbari, Rabbi
Amram Blau, Founder of the Neture Karta Movement: An Abridged Biography, “Hebrew Union College Annual”,
2010, Vol. 81. Ronen Yizhak, 9 ‫ כתב עת לציונות וליהדות‬:‫ כיוונים חדשים‬,“‫ ”פעילותם של נטורי קרתא נגד הקמת המדינה‬,‫יצחק‬
‫ ונן‬174–158 ’‫ עמ‬,(2003 ‫)אוקטובר‬.
8 Richard Gottheil and Samuel Krauss, 2002. Sicarii. http://www.jewishencyclopedia. com/view_frindly.jsp?artid

=681 &letter=S; Price, Jonathan. 2008. Zealots and Sicarii. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ jsource/judaica/
ejud_0002_0021_0_21428.html.
8 TAL DAVIDOVICH

which mean “The Keepers of the City”. These pair of words is to be found in Echa
Rabbah at the opening chapter of the Midrash9:

…For it is said, ‘why is the land in ruins, laid waste like a wilderness,
with none passing through? [The Lord replied, “Because they forsook the
Torah I had set before them”].’
…Rabbi [Judah the Patriarch] would dispatch R. Assi and R. Ammi
to go out and inspect the condition of the towns of the land of Israel.
They would go into a town and say to the people, “Bring us the
guardians of the town.”
So the people would produce the captain of the guard and sebator
and say to them, “Here are the guardians of the town.”
They said to them, “These are the guardians of the town? These are
those who ravage the town.”
They said to them, “Then who are the guardians of the town?”
They said to them, “They are the scribes and teachers, who dwell
upon, repeat, and keep the Torah day and night”...10

According to this text the ones who learn the Torah are the ones who protect the
city and its inhabitants and not the authorities of the state or soldiers with weapons. As
long as many will learn and teach the Torah and will adopt it as their way of life the
people will be safe. However, those who think that they protect the people by holding
weapon instead of concentrating on the Torah are those who cause the destruction of
9 The Echa Rabbah was edited in Israel probably in the 5th or the 6th hundred a.c, Since then it has been

used especially in the public ceremonies of the 9th of Av. Later on it has become two separate texts, which are
evidence to two versions of the Midrash. These versions have developed in two places: one in Italy and Ashkenaz,
and the other in Spain and in the East. To each of these versions were added different texts. The languages used
in this Midrash are Hebrew mixed with Galilean Aramaic, Greek and Latin. In some parts of the Midrash that are
considered to be late and additions is found also Babylonian Aramaic. It is divided into five main parts Parashot,
and opens with 36 homilies with a special structure, which are called Ptichtaot. The text in front of us is the
beginning of the second Ptichta. For further reading on the Lammantations Midrash Rabbah see: Leopold Zunz,
Die gottesdienstlichen Vortrage der Juden, historisch entwickelt: ein Beitrag zur Altertumskunde und biblische
kritik, zur Literatur-und Religionsgeschichte, L. Lamm, Berlin 1919. Shaye S.D. Cohen, The Destruction: From
Scripture to Midrash, “Prooftext” 1982, Vol. 2/1, pp. 18–39; Jacob Neusner, Lamentations Rabbah; An Analytical
Translation, Scholars Press, Atlanta, Georgia 1989; Günter Stemberger & Herman L. Strack, Introduction to the
Talmud and Midrash, T & T Clark, Edinburgh 1991 (translated by Markus Bockmuel); and Mendel 1997 ‫מנדל 'פ‬,
‫רבתי איכה מדרש‬, ‫השלישית לפרשה ביקרותית ומהדורה מבוא‬.
10 Translated by J. Neusner, 1989, pp. 13–14. In this translation also the texts that the original text only shortly

refers to are given in a full version. Like this it is much more clear to the reader who is not familiar with this
Hebrew-Aramaic text then the text in the original languages. Neusner not only translate this text among the other
parts of the Midrash but also discusses its structure as a separate text and as a part of the whole Midrash (ibid,
p.17). According to him this text is related to the previous one in the way that they both deal with the same
basic text, Jer. 9:16–18, however, they explain it in different ways by using different texts and various methods:
“The cited verse […] forms the base of a unitary composition and is given three complementary and repetitive
explanations. The whole then serves the exposition of the base verse in some interesting way”.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 9

the city. Meaning, the only right way to live is according to the Torah and the Halacha
and there is no salvation to the ones who do not follow it.

This group of Orthodox Jews, Neture Karta, is against Zionism11 and do not
acknowledge the State of Israel, its constitution and laws.12 According to their belief the
State of Israel should not be define as such until the times of the Messiah. And, since
according to their belief, which in this matter is similar to the general Jewish belief,
the Messiah has not yet come, there is no reason for such a state to exist. Furthermore,
according to them, not only has the time of the establishment of Israel as the State of the
Jews not yet come, but such an establishment rather even damages the Jews since it is
made only for the sake of irritating the rest of the world and therefore cause unnecessary
wars and bloodshed. When speaking about the lack of necessity of wars because of the
early declaration of the State of Israel we find other Jewish Orthodox groups that share
the same opinion, but their opinions do not go that far as to consider the inexistence of
a Jewish State.
From times before the establishment of the State of Israel, Neture Karta refused to
take part in the actions of the Zionist Yeshuv. This negative approach to Zionism has
continued also after the declaration of the State of Israel. After the War of Independence
they demanded from the United Nations that Jerusalem will be internationalized so that
there will not be an Israeli rule in the city.13
They further do not define themselves as citizens of the State of Israel. As a part
of their refusal to be called citizens of the State of Israel they also insist to prohibit
their members from participating in the elections to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.
Furthermore, the group is not being financed by the state for its educational causes and
establishments. All the members of this group are forbidden to speak Hebrew. They differ
in their opinions, however, when it comes to other issues that have to do with economy,
belief, daily life, and health and so on. The members act on these issues according to
the instructions of the individual leaders in their particular group.
The acts of Neture Karta are also an issue that depends on the group to which the
members belong. However, with no difference to the group they use words in order to
defame religious leaders and Rabbis who have positions in the Jewish State or who
support different issues that are connected to the relationship of orthodox Jews and the
State of Israel. One target of such defamation was Rabbi Steinmats who supported the
Tal law and Orthodox groups which will serve in the army.
The most extreme members of the groups of the Neture Karta believe that since
the State of Israel should not have been established, the right thing to do is to belong
to its enemies. Therefore they met with different Palestinian leaders and speak against
the defense of Israel. The most extreme act that was done by members of these groups
11 “Fortunately, though, Zionism is missing the most potent weapon in any ideology’s arsenal. It doesn’t have
the truth on its side”. http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/Zionism/index.cfm.
12 Zionism can be defined as the Jewish national movement for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Israel.
13 See http://www.ynet.co.il/yaan/0,7340, L-16831.
10 TAL DAVIDOVICH

is the participation in a conference of denying the existence of the Holocaust in 2006,

on this act reacted negatively not only Jews who are not members of these groups, but
also members of these groups that are themselves relatives of people that have suffered
and were murdered in the Holocaust. Many Orthodox Rabbis condemned this act and
declared that this act is insulting the name of God.
This organization has an anthem written by Rabbi Amram Blau in the late 1940’s
after the establishment of the State of Israel. He wrote it when sitting in prison in Israel.
Neture Karta uses it in various occasions:

God is our king,

We are his servants
The holy Torah is our Law
We are loyal to it.
We do not recognize the Heretic Zionist
Regime
Its laws do not apply to us
We walk in the ways of the Torah
In fire and water
We walk in the ways of the Torah
To Sanctify the Name of Heaven14

Two issues emerge in the Neture Karta’s anthem: The belief of the members of the
Neture Karta in the God of Israel and in the Torah. Because their belief is radically
fundamental and because they except with no doubt the Torah as the book one should
follow as the law and since their worship of God is total, they refuse to consider the laws
of the State of Israel. Furthermore, since they believe that the Zionists are unbelievers
they do not except their rule. According to their anthem God is the only king and ruler
and him and only him they obey.
However, this is only the surface of the things. Neture Karta makes no compromise
in their believes concerning the right of the State of Israel to exist. By saying in their
anthem that “we do not recognize the heretic Zionist regime” they do not only mean that
they themselves refuse to follow the laws of the State of Israel, in which a large group
of them live, and that they do not accept the authority and the right of this State to give
them any kind of instructions concerning their way of life. By referring to the Zionists
as the ones who built the State of Israel they refer to them as great sinners. Because
according to their belief one should not found the State of Israel before the arriving of
the Messiah and he did not come yet.15 Therefore nothing good will develop and be

14 This English version of the Neture Karta anthem was taken from http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/anthem.cfm.
15 See Aviezer Ravitzky, Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago 1996; Emanuel Sivan & M. Friedman (eds.), Religious Radicalism & Politics In The Middle East, New
York: State University of New York Press, New York 1990; and Aviezer Ravitzky, Religious Radicalism and
Political Messianism in Israel, in: Emanuel Sivan, & M. Friedman (eds.), op. cit., pp. 11–37.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 11

the outcome of such an act, and therefore the State of Israel must cease to exist. They
declared that they are against the State of Israel in its present form and not against the
Jews wherever they are.
In their eyes the belief is complete when one follows the instructions of the Halacha.
Meaning that they do not follow the words of the Torah as the only truth but rather
follow the Halacha. However, when investigating their own explanations of their theory
one finds that it is not the main stream of the Halacha that they follow, but rather only
a few incidents and instructions that mostly belong to the unexceptional side of the
Halacha and that in different occasions they have taken out of context.
One should distinguish between the people who call themselves Neture Karta and the
ones who are members of the Neture Karta International. While Neture Karta are the
ones who live in Israel (most of them in Jerusalem) and are numbered about 5000, the
Neture Karta International live also in other places in the world such as USA, England,
Canada etc. Neture Karta International activates two sites in the internet. As an example
of what they write, see their opinions against the actions of the IDF in Lebanon of 2006,
and how the state has “stolen” the name Israel from the Jewish people.16
This antagonistic approach is to be found all over their internet sites, their scribes,
interviews and lectures. They ventilate it on different occasions and consequently come
repeatedly to the same conclusion, namely, that the State of Israel is the reason for much
hatred, wars, bloodshed, and even anti-Semitism in the world.
According to their belief God have sent the sons of Israel to a long exile and it
is only he who will decide when it will be over. Until then the Jews should not try
to establish a State in the land of Israel. The time will come with the coming of the
Messiah but it did not come yet and therefore the existence of the so called “State of
Israel” damages the order of the world. And only when it, the state, will cease to exist
the possibility of the coming of the Messiah and of the building of the real Jewish State
of Israel will become a reality. Therefore one should act strongly for the destruction of
the State of Israel.
This group also has come with a solution to the “problem in the Middle-East” according
to which the UN has to give the land to the Palestinians and they will have the possibility
to decide whether or not they give a certain Israeli citizen or the other the permission
to stay in the land or even to become a citizen of the Palestinian State.17 They even
published a proposal for the details of such an act.18

16 http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/whatzionism.cfm; http://www.nkusa.org/aboutus/index.cfm.
17 This approach is to be found also in http://www.nkusa.org/AboutUs/index.cfm: “This would, of course, include
a full right of return for all Palestinian refugees. That is what elementary justice demands. This is the path of the
Torah and of common sense”. And also: “Of course, today, millions of Jews reside in Palestine. Whether some, all
or none of them might stay under Palestinian rule is, of course, up to the land’s rightful rulers, the Palestinians”.
18 For further reading of their “solution” see Neture Karta home page. Already in 1948 Rabbi Duchinsky sent

a petition to the UN asking for the Orthodox community in Jerusalem to be considered as a separate entity from
the State of Israel. D. Yisroal Weiss, Judaism – an Alternative to Zionism, Islamic Human Rights Commision,
Wembley 2001, http://www.nkusa.org. p. 6.
12 TAL DAVIDOVICH

According to a thorough study made during thirty years in Israel on the different
protests occurred in Israel under these years (1950–1979), concerning religious issues,
there is no doubt that the group that was most active in such protests and demonstrations
was the one of Neture Karta and their supporters. This group reached a total of 47.3%
during this period. That means that although this group is relatively small in comparison
to the other groups that were involved in these demonstrations, it was responsible for
approximately half of the protests, while the other groups all together made the other
fifty percent.19
Talking about Neture Karta International, it is no doubt that they are not only anti-
Zionists in their thoughts but also in their actions and that they do not hesitate to act
in violence when they think it can serve their cause. Furthermore, they sympathized
with the enemies of Israel or with the ones who wishes for Israel to stop to exist. They
declare this sympathizing on every opportunity they have. They define themselves as
“Jews united against Zionism”.
And such is also the definition of Rabbi Yisroel David Weiss, one of its activists and
one of the speakers of the Neture Karta International, of the people who have established
the Zionist movement: “One hundred years ago, a Jew, far removed from his faith and in
total ignorance of its basic beliefs, launched the movement today known as Zionism. Its
early adherents were almost uniformly drawn from the ranks of Jews who had previously
abandoned their faith”.20 The goal of this text is according to its writer “we will, God
willing, explain why Zionism is a rejection of Judaism and how its demise is the only path
to true peace. He farther continues: “Our perspective is representative of the Torah view,
maintained by hundreds of thousands of Jews worldwide, which offers a real alternative
to the current impasse”.21 He further explains the belief of this group that the land of
Israel was given as a divine gift to the Jews, however, this gift was a conditional gift,
namely, that if the “Jews will fail with their spiritual task, they would be banished from
the land and sent into exile”. This punishment is to last till the arrival of the Messiah
which will start a new future in which all mankind will worship God and the center of
it will be the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
In p. 3 he further explains that the Jews are not supposed to take the land of Israel
and therefore it should be retaken from them by the force of arms. Yet further, the
exile is the physical State of the Jew, and the only means to end the exile and to cause
worldwide peace is spiritual.
In the internet addition of “HaAretz” daily newspaper in Hebrew, an article was
published by Etinger on 2.5.2010.22 In it the death of Moshe Hirsh one of the most
controversial members of the Neture Karta was discussed. It was further noticed that he

19 For these results see Lehman-Wilzing, S. & G. Goldberg, op. cit., p. 495.
20 Y.D. Weiss, op. cit., p. 2.
21 Ibid.
22 Yair Etinger, Died Moshe Hirsh, from the People of Neture Karta (2010). http://www. haaretz.co.il/hasite/

spages/1166784.html (in Hebrew).

 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 13

was related to the head of the Palestinian authority, Arafat, while he was alive, giving
him and the Palestinians unlimited support in both action and words.
This strong relation with Arafat began, according to this article in “HaAretz”, already
in the 80’s when Arafat was still in Tunis. When the Palestinian Authority was established
it was Hirsh that got among others the position of “Advisor for Jewish affairs”. He was
the son-in-law of the founder of Neture Karta Rabbi Aharon Kazenelburg and was the
leader of one of the most extreme groups of it. He also was called “the minister of
foreign affairs of Neture Karta”. He was most extreme in his opinions and was not even
appreciated by other Ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist groups such as the Satmar-group that
usually does support the group of Neture Karta.
In 2006 the Neture Karta International sent a delegation to a conference for denying
the Holocaust that took place in Iran. This event made cracks in the movement because
some thought that it was out of place to do such a thing, and that there must be limits to
the actions and support the group gives to the enemies. It further gained a lot of negative
remarks from all the range of Ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, religious and secular Jewish
leaders in Israel and around the world. Among them Rabbi Israel Lao who was both the
chief rabbi of Israel and the head Rabbi of Tel Aviv and who himself was a survivor
of the Holocaust. He said that when he was only seven years old he was taken to the
Buchenwald concentration camp, there, like other Jews, he was forced to have a tattoo on
his arm with a number that was a symbol for the end of his participation in the human
race. He survived the Holocaust but many others did not and he cannot understand a Jew
that gives support to someone who denies the Holocaust.
Many actions, protests, and demonstrations are made both by Neture Karta and by
Neture Karta International. Some are more extensive and some are less, but they are all
against the Zionists and their creation, the state of Israel. As an example for a “smaller”
act one may mention the words of hate that were written on the memorial sign that is
in the city Zefat for the headquarters of the “National Military Organization” from the
time before the declaration of the state of Israel. It was also written there “Zionists Out”.
Of course this was not something exceptional but only a small link in a huge chain of
actions against the state of Israel that these groups occupied themselves with since the
times of their establishment.
The Council of the Seven is the highest body of Neture Karta. In the meetings of
this group of people decisions have been made concerning issues that have to do with
the daily life of the members of Neture Karta. There decisions were accepted by all the
members of this community.
There are mainly two kinds of texts about the Neture Karta: The ones written by
members of the group or its supporters; and the texts written by people who neither
belong nor support the group. The texts written by the members of the group and its
supporters are positive and supportive in their nature. They submit the version of the
group concerning its members acts and believes. These texts have only one truth and
one way of seeing the world in general and the Zionists and their “stupidity”/“evilness”
that caused the founding of the State of Israel in particular. Of course none of their
14 TAL DAVIDOVICH

propaganda or explanatory texts are written in Hebrew because according to them Hebrew
is a language that should be used only for reading and writing the holy scripts. Therefore,
also in their sight in the internet Hebrew is not one of the several languages into which
the texts can be translated.
Sam Lehman-Wilzig and Giora Goldberg have studied the religious protest and police
reactions in Israel during 1950–1979.23 In the beginning of their study they declare
one of the most solid facts concerning the reality of the State of Israel: “The problem
of religion and State has been one of the longest lasting issues in the relatively short
history of the modern State of Israel”. Nonetheless, according to their study this problem
is not based on the fact that the large minority of inhabitants in the State of Israel are
Muslims and that there are several other groups of different religions and beliefs such
as Christians, Buddhists, Bahai and so on, that all live in a relatively very small area.
Rather the sensitive balance between State and religion in Israel is the one between the
State and the Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and among them the most extreme and problematic
one is the small group called Neture Karta.
According to Lehman-Wilzig and Goldberg the main way to deal with this controversy
is from a “coalitional/legislative standpoint”, or even “a legal/juridical perspective”.
Nevertheless, there is another way to deal with the dispute “a cultural/sociological point
of view”. According to them: “The streets constitute an important battleground as well
(for political as well as public relations purposes)”.24
Upon beginning their investigation they had two main assumptions: the first was that
the protests on religious issues were more violence than the ones about other issues; and
the second, that the reactions of the authorities and the police to these protests would
prove to be harsh, and even much too harsh. However, both their assumptions were
proven wrong.25 They also found out that the major percentage of the religious protests
was made by a relatively small group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews, the Neture Karta.26
Although the Neture Karta claimed not once that they are against the existence of the
State of Israel not because of its, according to them, secular character but rather due to the
fact that because the Messiah has not arrived the time for the State of Israel to reestablish
did not come yet and that no human being should try to change the decision of God. God
has sent the Jews to a diaspora and the time did not come yet to return from this diaspora
because the Messiah is still not here.27 Nevertheless, in other declarations of this group
on different occasions they emphasize that their opposition to the State of Israel is also

23 Lehman-Wilzig, S. & G. Goldberg, op. cit., p. 491.

24 Ibid., p. 492.
25 Ibid., pp. 491–505.
26 Furthermore, from their study it occurs that only 6.5 percent of the protests over religion are of the kind of

anti-religion (ibid., p. 496).

27 This kind of explanation to the anti-Zionism of this group is to be found not only among the texts submitted

by members of this group but also among some scholars. For such an explanation see ibid., p. 497. Nonetheless,
also they recognize the anti-secular type of resistance in the protests of the Neture Karta and explains it not as
the reason for their wish for the State of Israel to sees to exist but rather in their wish to hold religious life.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 15

due to the fact that according to them this is a secular State. They also emphasize that
the man who first came out in public with the idea of building a Jewish State, Theodor
Herzl was not religious himself and neither were any of the prime ministers of the so
called Zionist country until our days. According to Neture Karta they are all sinners.28
Mintz describes the life of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum (1888–1979) after the Second
World War and his rescue from Bergen Belzen.29 Kaplan tries to survey the social and
religious background of the man in Hungary in order to explain the reasons that lead
Rabbi Teitelbaum to his extreme anti-Zionist approach.30 Rabbi Teitelbaum was saved
from the death camp Bergen Belzen in 1944 as one of those who were lucky and
invited as passengers in the train wagons arranged by Rezo Rudolf Kastner, a leader
of the Zionist movement in Romania and Hungary. Rabbi Teitelbaum arrived to New
York in 1947 passing through Switzerland and Israel.31 Upon his arrival to New York
he established the Satmar group. His followers were not only the Orthodox Jews from
Satmar in Transylvania that had survived the Holocaust but also other Orthodox Hasidic
Jews that had lost their leaders during the Second World War and therefore joined him
as their leader.32 Already in his time in Szeto-Mare (Satmar) before the Second World
War he belonged to the Satmar group of Hasidic Ultra-Orthodox, a group that strongly
opposed the Zionist movement. After the war, though he was saved by Zionists he kept
his believes and opinions and also his Hasidim followed him. This group quickly became
a very big and rich group that was and still is today radically anti-Zionist. There were
several attempts by scholars to explain this paradox in the life of the Rabbi, however,
all the explanations are at the most assumptions since the Rabbi himself has refused to
talk about the issue until the day he died.
The establishers of Neture Karta followed his doctrine as a base for their approach
and belief. According to Rabbi Teitelbaum in his Va Yoel Moshe the establishment of the
State of Israel, before the times of the Messiah, is a Satanic act. He also proposed that
the Holocaust was a punishment by God for the appearance of Zionism.33

28 G.J. Neuberg, The Great Gulf between Zionism and Judaism. Paper delivered at the Tripoli Conference on

Zionism and Racism (2003). http://www.nkusa.org, p. 2.

29 Jerom Mintz, Hasidic People: A Place in the New World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Cambridge

1992, pp. 27–29.

30 Zvi Jonathan Kaplan, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, Zionism, and Hungarian Ultra-Orthodoxy, “Modern Judaism”

2004, Vol. 24, pp. 165–178.

31 According to Arie Davidovich (in a telephone interview on 19.9.2011) who was a child in those days and

was an eye witness to the event, the Rabbi traveled with a train in Israel standing outside and his followers and
other believers could (if they had luck) kiss him or touch him on his hand.
32 For the Ultra-Orthodox Jews of Hungary see Jacob Katz, Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective, “Studies in

Contemporary Jewry” 1986, Vol. 2, pp. 3–17; and Michael K. Silber, The Emergence of Ultra-Orthodoxy: The
Invention of a Tradition. The Uses of Tradition, ed. Jack Werthmeimer, Jewish Theological Seminary of America,
New York 1992.
33 Joel Teitelbaum, Vayoel Moshe, Jerusalem 1959, pp. 5–6 (Hebrew). For a discussion on Teitelbaum and his

writings see Z.J. Kaplan, op. cit.

16 TAL DAVIDOVICH

In Teitelbaum’s point of view, by establishing a modern Jewish State of the European

model the Jews took upon them a nationalistic identity instead for a religious identity.34
Daniel and Jonathan Boyarin work in the Academy in USA. They present themselves
as scholars. However, when reading their writings it appears that they cannot leave their
personal opinions outside the academic platform. Though they are not members of Neture
Karta they are very enthusiastic supporters. Both Boyalin brothers are Ultra-Orthodox
Jews. When writing about Neture Karta they put their opinions out in the open. According
to them, Neture Karta has a point in their saying that in order to live in a place one
does not have to define it as his State.35 Some other scholars who have examined this
radical group and its supporters have much to say against its view. One such scholar is
Arkush who claims that the reality that the Neture Karta wish and struggle for the Jews
in Israel are very dangerous for the Jewish people and their existence.36
In his striving to keep the Jewish tradition, Rabbi Teitelbaum found himself building
a new tradition. A tradition based not only on the texts of the Halacha that have been
considered main stream but rather used some parts and pieces of Halacha, kabbalah,
aggadah and other texts in order to support his own theories.37
Neture Karta accuses the Zionists and the State of Israel of taking upon themselves the
role of representing all the Jews. According to Neture Karta they have neither moral nor
religious and even not a political right to do so. However, Neture Karta or its International
variant itself takes upon it the same role of representing all the Orthodox-Jews although
not all groups and streams among Orthodox Jewry share their opinions. Furthermore,
even Ultra-Orthodox Jewry does not except the methods by which the Neture Karta
and Neture Karta International act and not even their opinions. One of many examples
for proving this role that was taking by Neture Karta is in the speech that was written
by Weiss who represented the Neture Karta for the Islamic human rights commission.38
There he considers the head Rabbis of Neture Karta as the head Rabbis of Jerusalem
ignoring completely the fact that there were head Rabbis assigned by the Rabbinate and
recognized by the State of Israel as the head Rabbis. In the same paper Wiess claims
that “They [Orthodox Jewry] refuse any form of recognition of, or co-operation with the
State” which is not correct because until the Second World War Orthodox Jewry was of
the opinion that one should not hurry the end of the exile but because of the Holocaust
they have decided to support the Zionists in their establishment of the State of Israel and
the saving of what was left from the Jews who lived in Europe.39 They even became
part of the Israeli Knesset later on. Such a group that joined the Knesset in 1977 was the
Agudat Israel from which the Neture Karta split up and which they oppose until today.

34 Kaplan, ibid., p. 168.

35 For further survey on the Boyarins and their doctorin see Allan Arkush, From Diaspora Nationalism to
Radical Diasporism, “Modern Judaism” 2009, Vol. 29, pp. 326–350.
36 A. Arkush, op. cit., pp. 326–350 (339).
37 Z.J. Kaplan, op. cit., pp. 169–170.
38 Y.D. Weiss, op. cit., pp. 6–7.
39 A. Ravitzky, op. cit., p. 151.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 17

Now and again members of Neture Karta and Neture Karta International define
Zionist actions or attentions as similar to the actions and attentions of the Nazis. One
of many examples is to be found in the referring to the Jews as a race. According to
Neture Karta the only ones who have ever done so are the Zionists and the Nazis.40
The great dispute between Agudat Israel and Neture Karta became even bigger in
the time of the 1967 War when the army forces had to pass through the part of the
town in Jerusalem that most of its habitants is Orthodox and this had to be also during
Shabbat days and holydays. Agudat Israel did not protest against these events since they
understood the importance of it in times of war. Neture Karta however, not only resisted
these events both by words and by actions that have become more and more violent, but
also in their reaction against the Agudat Israel and other groups of Jewish orthodox that
have supported the defense forces.
There is no doubt that this small group of people with extremist opinions against the
State of Israel and in the belief that the time of the Messiah is yet to come and that the
State of Israel is causing a direct delay to the time of the arrival of the Messiah is very
active. Its activities have a twofold aim: to cause the diminishing of the State of Israel,
and as a result of that to make the coming of the Messiah a possible reality.
The activities of this group are both peaceful and violent.41 They have contacts and
meetings in the Muslim world. They have gatherings and lectures. Yet again, at the same
time they oppose physically with violent demonstrations mainly in Israel, and mostly in
Jerusalem, both police forces and do not hesitate to injure civilians either.42
In their home page on the internet, some details are presented. The descriptions
include the information of time and place.43 For some of their activities they have more
detailed and separate place in their web site.44 They also use the media in different ways,
even though only because it serves their purposes and not because they agree with these
medias. One of the more conventional ways in their use are the letters and newsletters.45
Nevertheless, they use also forms of Media and communication that are less or even not
conventional in their circles.46
40 G.J. Neuberg, op. cit., p. 1.
41 For a sociological treatment, see Menachem Friedman, Religious Zealots in Israeli Society, in: On Ethnic
and Religious Diversity in Israel, ed. by Ernst Krausz, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 1975, pp. 91–112. See
also: Menachem Friedman, Haredi Violence in Contemporary Israeli Society, “Studies in Contemporary Jewry”
2002, Vol. 18, pp. 186–97. For a critical discussion of its ideology see Norman Lamm, The Ideology of the Neture
Karta-According to the Satmarer Version, “Tradition” 1971, Vol. 12, pp. 38–53. Nore sympathetic treatments of
the movement are to be found in Emile Marmorstein, Heaven at Bay, Hamadpis, Lomdon 1958.
42 Menachem Friedman, op. cit., pp. 186–197.
43 For some of their activities see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/index.cfm.
44 For their demonstrations see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/demonstrations/index.cfm; for speaches they give

on different occasions see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/demonstrations/index.cfm; for the various times they have
been interviewed see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/interviews/index.cfm,for the different conferences they have
organaized or have participated in see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/conferences/index.cfm, and so on.
45 For some see http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Letters/index.cfm, and http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Newsads/

index.cfm.
46 See http://www.nkusa.org/Media_Clips/index.cfm, and of course their web site.
18 TAL DAVIDOVICH

Most of their activities are documented in such a way that everyone who are interested
is able to follow it.
Among other information that can be found in their web-site, Neture Karta publishes
a table in which all the late events and actions that were made by them as a group or
by their individuals in consent from the group are to be found.47
Nevertheless, there are many more activities and all have the same purpose, to help
to the destruction of the State of Israel. Such activities vary from the burning of the flag
of Israel on different occasions such as on the 16 of Mars 2014 in Montreal, in Brooklyn
NY, in Kiryas Joel NY, Monsey NY, and London, all on the same day, which is the day
of the Jewish holyday of Purim.
They also continue with an official warm attitude towards the Palestinians and the
causes of the most extreme Arab groups. As for example on the 6th of June 2014 in
their participation in the so called “Global March to Jerusalem” in NYC, on 9 July 2014
a protest for “Palestine” in NYC, on 11 Juli 2014 a speech for “Palestine”, on 16 July
2014 in Montreal a rally in support with Gaza, and the same actions on the 18th of July
in Buffalo NY and Luton England, on the 20th July in Chicago IL, on the 23th July 2014
in Boston, and on the 24th of July in Jerusalem, 25th of July 2014 in Atlanta GA etc.
Many times this attitude leads to violent events such as on 5th July 2014 both in
London and in Washington DC., where members of Neture Karta have protested against
what they call “Jewish outrage at Zionist attacks in Palestine”.48 There are many more
instances in which violence occurred in their actions. In most of them violence in its
various levels was planned beforehand.
They also continue with public lectures and interviews against the State of Israel, its
leaders and its existence, as for example on the 27th of January 2014 in NYC, 18 Mars
2014 in Forth Wayne IN, 21st Mars 2014 NYC, 25th of May 2014 in Toronto, 1 June in
NYC, in 6th of June 2014 in NYC a press TV interview with Rabbi Weiss, and on the
12th of June a radio interview with Burt Cohen.
Different kinds of protests and demonstrations against the existence of the State of
Israel take place, some are more and some are less violent, as the following: on the 2nd
of Mars 2014 in Washington DC a protest of AIPAC convention, followed only one day
later and in the same place by a protest of the visit of the Israeli Prime minister, on the
4th of May 2014 in Boston MA an Israeli Independence day protest, and the same kind
of protest on the 5th of May 2014 in Ukraine, on the 6th of May in Montreal, and on
the same day in Jerusalem.
They also give their opinion about every issue that is in dispute between the State of
Israel and the Arab states, such as the Temple Mount as it is written in http://www.nkusa.
org/ AboutUs/index.cfm: “The true Torah solution, the key to peace is the immediate
return of Palestine to the Palestinians in its entirety including the Temple Mount and
Jerusalem”. Of course, their opinion is in total agreement with the most extreme views

47 http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Recent/index.cfm?selectedyear=2015.
48 This article is not the place to discuss the wrong facts in this title.
 ENEMY OF ISRAEL 19

against Israel and the Jews living there. While trying their best to sabotage any agreement
between the sides, they consider themselves as righteous and their opinions as “authentic
Jewish opinion”.49 They also support and sympathize with the Al-Nakba, “The Disaster”,
the Arab name for the loss of the Arabs against the Jews on the 1948 war. Their loss
made it possible to build the modern State of Israel. On the 15th of May, the day of the
national day of Israel, the Neture Karta see it as appropriate to march and demonstrate
in sorrow. Such activities on this day is very common. For example see the supports of
Neture Karta on the An-Nakba on the 15th of May 2014 in London, Ottawa, Washington
DC, NYC and more.
They further openly support the attitude of the leaders of Iran, and their wish to
diminish the State of Israel, such as the counter protest at the Iranian mission in NYC
on the 27th April 2014. They even participated in the convention of denying the existence
of the Holocaust that took place in Iran.
For them there is no limit and no issue too sensitive or too important on the way
to destroy the State of Israel.
On the left side of all the parts of their home page there is the flag of Israel standing
up and blowing in the wind.50 It could have been a nice picture without the red prohibition
mark above it.
This mark is actually the main concept of the Neture Karta group. There is no
existence for the State of Israel. It is a forbidden identity. This is a very strong mark
because of the exact place it is placed on, namely the center of the flag of the Jewish
State. And also due to the fact that the flag beneath the sign is moving. So the sign
above it blocks not only the flag but also its movement. It denies all forms of existence
and all signs of life of the flag that symbolizes the Jewish State of Israel.
To be sure Neture Karta belongs above all to the periphery of the Jewish political and
religious spectra. In fact, contrary to their view the majority of the ultra-Orthodox circles
has increased their involvement in Israeli political life in the past few years. Neture Karta
will not be able to do that as, to them, there is no middle way between complete Exile
and complete salvation. And, from that follows that Neture Karta refuses to recognize
the right of anyone to establish a “Jewish” State during the present period of exile.

49 As for example see the 5th of Mars in NYC about the issue of the Mount Temple.
50 Start page is to be found in http://www.nkusa.org.