A Zionist State, Not a Jewish State

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Feb 25, 2014, 11:59 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Rabbinical Council of Neturei Karta International issued the following statement:

The Zionists are now demanding that the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel as "a Jewish state" and "the nation state of the Jewish people".

Authentic Torah Jews around the world declare that the State of Israel is a Zionist state, not a Jewish state; likewise, the name "Israel" is a hijacked name.

Judaism means subservience to the Almighty and acceptance of the Torah. Zionism means nationalism and is totally contradictory to the above. Judaism teaches that we are in exile by Divine decree and are forbidden to create our own sovereignty. We must be humble toward all nations and not make any attempts to leave exile, until the day when the Almighty alone will redeem us, without any human intervention, as He promised. The Torah forbids us to kill, steal or harm others in any manner.

Therefore, on all accounts, Zionism is contradictory to Judaism.

Authentic religious Jewish leaders have always opposed the existence of the State of Israel. As Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinky, Chief Rabbi of Palestine, stated in a declaration to the United Nations in 1947: "We furthermore wish to express our definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine". (The Rabbis Speak Out, The 130-year Record of Religious Jewish Opposition to Zionism, p. 81)

This new Zionist demand in effect forces the Palestinians to forfeit their right of return to their ancestral land. And likewise they are once again attempting to steal the Jewish identity from the true Jewish people: the people who keep the Almighty's laws.

One of their worst atrocities has been their false appropriation of Jewish identity, symbolized by their use of the name "Israel" - the Biblical name of the Jewish people. By acting in our name, they implicate us in their offenses and drag us into their conflicts.

We ask the world to recognize that the Zionist state is not a Jewish state, has no connection with the Jewish people and has no right to use the name "Israel".

May we live to see true peace under a Palestinian state, in which Jews and Palestinians will live side by side in harmony as they did in centuries past.

www.nkusa.org

SOURCE Neturei Karta International