A message from the heart to Gaza People and all Palestinian
From the Anti-Zionism religious Jewish Community around the world
With the help of the Almighty
Asalam aleikum!
We, a delegation of religious Jewish rabbis of Neturei Karta, have come to Gaza as visitors to show our heartfelt support and solidarity with the people of Gaza and all of Palestine, who have suffered for over one hundred years at the hands of the Zionist movement. Coming face to face with the victims of Zionist oppression, we feel to the depth of our hearts the tragedy that is being perpetrated against you, without interruption.
For over one hundred years, the Zionists have oppressed and demeaned a great people, a people that was friendly to the Jewish people, a people that had been providing for the Jewish people a safe haven, friendship, hospitality, and everything that one could ask for from a good neighbor. We have living witnesses today, people who can still bear testimony to that good relationship that existed between the Jewish and Palestinians peoples in the city of Al Quds and throughout Palestine for many hundreds of years, until Zionist activities began, and even afterwards. But gradually, this evil movement built a wall of separation, a wall of mistrust and even hatred, between some of the Jewish people and this great nation, the people of Palestine.
In order to gain the sympathy and support of the world, the Zionist movement has stolen the Jewish identity. We are embarrassed and humiliated that all of this is being done in the name of Judaism and the Torah. Our identity is being used to perpetrate this colossal crime. The Zionists have dressed their nationalism in the clothing of the Torah. In truth, it is nothing more than a base, materialistic political movement, and a rebellion against G-d. Because according to the Torah, G-d has placed the Jewish people in exile, and they are strictly forbidden to have even one inch of sovereignty in any place in the world. In King Solomon's prophecy, as explained in the Talmud, we have been commanded under oath not to return en masse to the Holy Land, which is Palestine. We have been commanded not to rebel against any nation, but rather to be loyal citizens of the countries where we live. We have been commanded not to attempt to end this G-dly-decreed exile. This means that even if the Holy Land had been an uninhabited, desolate land, we would still have been forbidden to found a sovereign state there. These commandments were upheld by Jews for thousands of years. Before the era of Zionism, no Jew even considered the idea of Jews taking a homeland for themselves, let alone by military force.
But the Zionists have violated all of this. Zionism is heresy because it denies the Divine punishment inherent in the Jewish people’s exile and seeks to remedy what is essentially a spiritual state by physical means.
The sin was compounded a thousandfold when the Zionists decided to found their state in Palestine, a land occupied by an indigenous people who had existed there for thousands of years. The Zionists violated every concept of morality written in the Torah: Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not steal, treating a fellow human being with mercy, justice shall you pursue, and so on. They cruelly killed or expelled a large part of the Palestinian population, and they had no problem in bringing war and destruction upon the peoples of Palestine. Neither Jewish nor non-Jewish lives were important to them, only their power and glory.
Yes, the Zionists perpetrated this tragedy not only against the will of the non-Jewish Palestinians, but also against the will of the Jewish residents of Palestine, who lived here peacefully before the advent of Zionism. This was the community of Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld, of blessed memory, who met with Arab leaders and told them that Torah Jews have no political ambitions. This was the community of Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, who pleaded before the UN in 1947 that the Zionists do not represent us and that we do not want any Jewish state.
But the Zionists succeeded, and today we see the ultimate result, the well over 60 years of suffering that the Palestinian people have experienced and continue to experience.
Coming here to Palestine with this aura of holiness, these rebels and heretics wave the Torah to legitimize their thievery, claiming they have the right to take the land away from the Palestinians, while in truth the Torah explicitly forbids this. Even more audaciously, they claimed that it was a land without a people for a people without a land. They got away with this because in those days there was no adequate, unbiased media coverage, and the support of the western powers.
The Zionists realized that the only way to legitimize their grand theft of the Holy Land was to put on the cloak of righteousness and holiness, and claim that their state is the fulfillment of G-d's promise of redemption. But this is a lie! According to Judaism, redemption does not mean a human-initiated movement for independence. It means that G-d will reveal His kingship over the whole world so that all of humanity will recognize the one G-d, and we will all join hands and serve Him together in brotherhood. "Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and there will be war no more."
That is why we have come here, to let the people of Gaza know: We feel for you! Jews who are true to G-d and His Torah, whether living in Palestine, or in the United States, Canada, England, or any other place, stand in sympathy and solidarity with you, our friends in Gaza and all of Palestine. We all have felt and continue to feel your suffering, and we are humiliated and frustrated – humiliated because this is being done in our name and the name of the Torah, and frustrated because although we oppose and condemn the Zionists in the strongest language, our voices are barely heard, our demonstrations are ignored by the media, and we suffer persecution and intimidation at the hands of the Zionists. And for that reason hundreds of thousands of other religious Jews who would like to join us in protest stand by the sidelines. And anti-Zionist Jews in occupied Palestine suffer even more: they are beaten cruelly when they stand up and oppose the Zionism regime. Also, our communities suffered harassment and violent assaults on our homes and libraries in the US at the hands of the Zionists.
But we know that our work is not futile, because G-d hears our voices and G-d sees the suffering. Everything is in the hands of G-d, and He will bring an end to the Zionist state soon, as the Torah promises, "He who rebels against G-d will not succeed!" We pray that this should happen speedily and peacefully, without any more bloodshed.
We are going to return to our communities and convey the message of what we have seen here in Gaza, the ongoing crimes that are being perpetrated against its people. We have taken part in bringing medical supplies and other basics, but really this is only a drop in the ocean of what you need. More importantly, this is a symbolic measure to show the world that your freedom has been stolen, and to show the sympathy and support of some Jews worldwide.
We hold that the only just solution is that the self-rule and self-respect of the Palestinian people be restored over the entire land of Palestine. Then Jews and Arabs will once again coexist in peace and harmony, and the Jewish people will be able to show their thankfulness for all the hundreds of years of friendship and hospitality that the Palestinians have shown them.
And we humbly ask all of you not to call the occupying power "the Jewish state" or "the Jewish people," because then you are playing into the hands of the Zionists. It is the Zionists who have falsely call themselves the Jewish people in order to confuse the world and to make it seem as if this is a religious conflict, as if the people of Palestine and Gaza are intolerant of another people and are anti-Semitic. Call their state what it is: the Zionist state. Be careful to differentiate between Judaism and true Jewish people on the one hand, and this terrible barbarism and rebellion against G-d on the other. And let the world know that this is not a religious conflict. Remember the true history that Jews and Arabs have always lived in peace and harmony.
The Arabs are our friends. We have coexisted, we will coexist, and we are friends even today. Help us to reeducate the world. Let us stand up and tell the world that the root cause of all the suffering in the Holy Land is one thing: the new neighbor on the block, Zionism. Let us remove the Zionist regime from the block, and then we will be able to once again live in harmony.
May the Almighty heal your wounds? Help you rebuild quickly! Bring total freedom to the people of Gaza and Palestine with the help of the Almighty, speedily and peacefully.
May the nightmare of Zionism become a memory of the past, and may we all soon celebrate together a free Palestine, a free Gaza, and a free Al Quds.
And ultimately, we pray for that great day when the Almighty will redeem the world, there will be no wars, and all mankind will serve Him in peace
Amen… amen
Monday, July 13 2009
Neturei Karta International
Jews United Against Zionism
www.nusa.org
info@nkusa.org |
