ZIONISM / ANTI-----neturei karta

MODERATOR Posted - 28 March 2005 9:53

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The NK definitely do have their problems - there is no justification to protest together with Arabs who currently - yes, even though it is due to the Zionists - want to kill Jews. This is a violation of hischabrus im reshayim and chilul hashem. The Satmar Rebbe never did such a thing and never would do such a thing. He did organize protests against Israel, but never were Arabs invited and never did he join an Arab protest.

As a matter of fact, it is one of the tenets of Satmar Hashkafa that Hischabrus im reshayim is prohibited even if the cause itself you are joining with them for is a good and just cause (as per the Alshich in Mishle ch. 1).

However, you are 100% correct that their efforts to tell the world that the Zionists do not represent world Jewry, that the State of Israel does not represent world Jewry, that the Zionist leaders have no right to represent world Jewry, and that it was Zionism, not Judaism, that they have a fight with -- that is a good thing. In that they are following the Hashkafa of the Satmar Rebbe who stated, orally and in writing, that it is a great Mitzvah to tell the non-Jews of the world all of those things.

And in the case of the Iranian Jews, the judge said that the reason he is sparing their lives is because he has learned that they are Jews but not Zionists.

There was also a letter from a woman in Canada whose daughter wanted to become a suicide bomber, but wrote to her mother that she will not do so because she has learned that not all Jews are Zionists and thus not all Jews are the enemy.

It is a good thing to counteract the propaganda of the Zionists that try to frame the issue as Arabs vs. Jews. Unfortunately, their propaganda has become a self-fulfilling prophecy and the Arab world, as well as the world at large, believe it.

That is the other half of the NK's mistakes - they believe that in the current environment it is possible to undo the misimpression that the world has to the point where we can be at peace with the Arabs. That is not possible. We can of course try to do hatzolah purtah, but we should not think that in the current environment, the Arabs in general are anything but deadly enemies. That is not going to be undone so quickly.

And you are also correct that to save Jewish lives you hug and kiss your enemy or bow or do whatever you can. Yaakov did that when he met Esav, and R. Yochanan ben Zakai did that when he met Aspasyanus. Our seforim say that this is the key to reducing anti-Semitism.

The formula is simple: What would you tell your son to do if he meets an armed mugger in the street, demanding his money? Prudence demands that you tell your son to hand over peacefully everything the mugger asks for - money, clothing, car keys whatever - but do not try to fight him, not matter how string you think you are, unless he is going to attack you.

But it is not worth risking your life, even if the odds are you will win the fight. If you can beat the mugger 9 out of 10 times, it’s not worth trying, lest this time be the tenth.

And that’s even without any disclosure form the Torah that resisting the nations is futile, and that making peace is the only way to survive. Once the Torah says that, and it does, there is no longer any question what to do.

However, neither Yaakov nor RYB"Z ever protested or joined together with the enemy. That is crossing the line, and is not justified at all.