Was the state of Israel
founded by use of force with Holocaust as justification? / Statement – M. A. Friedmann 00, 2002-07-13
Has the Jewish Orthodox congregation
more sh..ts than any other community? / Postimg Guitl Zajden 00, 2004-11-05
The State of Israel today does not
have any right to exist, either in biblical or in historical terms / M. A. Friedmann 00, 2006-08-05
Israel in the light of the Bible.
The Middle East Summit in Annapolis on 27. 11. 2007
/ The Israeli Daily Newspaper Ha’aretz
When Jews rule the world /
Brother Nathanael Kapner 00, 2012-12-11
Gaza & The Myth Of Israel’s
Right To Exist / Brother Nathanael Kapner 00, 2014-ß7-15
Press Conference The
Holocaust: A Memorial of Another Kind / The authentic Jewish voice has its say! 00, 2010-01-27
Neturei Karta Condemns
Israeli Attack on Humanitarian Flotilla. / Neturei Karta 00, 2010-06-11
Israel makes a ploy of the holocaust and antisemitism. /
Prof. Moshe Zuckermann, KURIER daily newspaper, 2010-10-21
WikiLeaks exposed the true
Mideast conflict. / Ari Shavit, Haaretz daily newspaper, 2010-12-03
Opening address by Chief Rabbi
M. A. Friedmann / International Conference of Rabbis 2004-07-01, Vienna
Does God not have a
Son? / Commentary by a member of the believing Jewish community in Germany
00, 2010-08-07
Palestine: Land Without People for
People Without Land? Part 2, Discourse 462
Moishe Arye Friedmann is Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox
Jewish congregation in Vienna (not to be confused with Michel Friedman,
the Vice-President of the Central Council of the Jews in Germany). He comes of a
strongly traditional family of rabbis, was born in New York, and is 30 years old
and the father of six children. He directs his own synagogue in Vienna. Going by
what he says, there are some 1000 Jews in Austria who share the views of the
Orthodox Jewish community.
At the height of the sanctions against Austria and its black-blue government,
Friedmann joined with Orthodox Jewish Chief Rabbis from all over the world to
insert an advertisement in the New York Times for the price of 24,000 euros,
defending Austria.
Friedmann has now let it be known that he wishes to bring three Palestinian
children who were injured in the fighting in Israel to Austria for medical
treatment, and he has already been promised help, from Karl Blecha
amongst others, the President of the Österreichisch-Arabische-Gesellschaft
[Austro-Arab Society] and former Minister of the Interior of the Socialist
Party.
The Austrian Public Attorney Ewald Stadler (Austrian
Liberal Party), on the occasion of his bonfire speech at a midsummer night’s
party on 21 June, made the statement that in the year 1945 Austria was "supposedly
liberated from fascism and tyranny" by the occupying powers. This aroused
the indignation of certain politicians belonging to parties represented in the
Austrian parliament, and Public Attorney Stadler was called upon to resign his
office.
Likewise the President of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien [Israelite
Religious Community of Vienna], Ariel Muzikant, and the – "Jüdische
Forum"[Jewish Forum] declared that Stadler was unacceptable as an Public
Attorney for Nazi victims, and urged his two colleagues in office "to consider
the situation and to take steps."
Finally even the Austrian federal President, Dr Thomas Klestil, felt
impelled to assert in admonitory tones that Austria was indeed liberated in 1945
from fascism and the Nazi dictatorship. In a letter to the federal President,
Mr. Stadler promptly expressed his essential agreement with the federal
President’s remarks, but pointed out nonetheless that during the ten years
when Austria was under occupation, the Red Army was guilty of many crimes
against Austrians.
Stadler pursued this argument from analogy further, arguing
that while the Nazi dictatorship is ‒ quite rightly ‒ condemned, all
the same the crimes of the Red Army during the years of occupation are never
referred to, nor, above all, is the dictatorship of Stalin, in the course of
which millions of people in the Soviet Union lost their lives; and he, Stadler,
wanted for once to speak plainly about this.
Unjustified attack on Public Attorney Ewald Stadler.
1) The liberty to express one’s opinions and engage in free discussion is
the fundamental principle of a democracy such as we have in Austria. Demands
that a politician should resign because of the opinions he has expressed
contradict this fundamental principle, and should therefore be rejected.
2) As Jews true to our faith, we decline any kind of involvement in the
internal affairs of Austria, and call on the other Jewish organizations as
well to make Jewish matters their principal concern, and in particular to
refrain from putting any pressure on Austria or on Austrian politicians.
Already at the time when the new Austrian government was formed, we joined
with Orthodox Chief Rabbis from all over the world to place an advertisement
in the New York Times in which all criticism of Austria for the democratic
decision of its citizens was clearly rebutted.
The withdrawal of the Israeli ambassador, therefore, was in our view
incomprehensible. For us Jews true to our faith, the presence or absence of
an Israeli ambassador is actually completely irrelevant. Austria as well
should pursue its own interests as a first priority, without having regard
to the status of the diplomatic representation of a single country.
3) In this matter Public Attorney Stadler has our full support. In the
retrospective evaluation of the Second World War a one-sided and distorted
view of things is dominant today, and Zionist groups use the events of that
time as a basis for political and financial blackmail. This, though, is just
the kind of thing that encourages the reemergence of anti-Semitism. Public
Attorney Stadler is one of the few Austrian politicians who are able to
distinguish between Jews and Zionists. Just for that reason the attempt is
being made to silence him. Public Attorney Stadler has done much for our
Orthodox community, and from private conversations with him I know that he
is very well aware that the year 1945 brought freedom to a great many
people, including all those who suffered persecution under the Nazi regime.
On the other hand it is also incontestable that for a great many people the
year 1945 did not bring freedom – especially all those who were the
victims of the Red Army and of Stalinism. A differentiated discussion of the
concept of liberation is therefore both possible and useful. Not even for us
Jews true to our faith was the year 1945 a real liberation, because
following from it, with the Holocaust as a justification, the state of
Israel was founded by the use of force, which contradicts the will of God.
As Jews true to our faith we accept the fate of the Diaspora which God has
laid upon us. But the founding of the state of Israel has not just damaged
the Jews on this religious plane; the means and the methods used by Israel
to secure its existence against the Palestinians damage all Jews world-wide,
and encourage the rebirth of anti-Semitism. For Jews true to their faith it
is clear, however, that the Diaspora is the fate laid upon us by God until
the coming of the Messiah.
Discussion of the Second World War and its consequences must be objective
and free of emotion. If Public Attorney Stadler has now pointed to aspects
of the matter that previously could hardly be alluded to and to victims who
were never spoken of, this contributes to making the discussion more
objective. He should therefore be allowed to continue to express his
opinions. Austria can be proud that it has such a politician.
As Immanuel.at is a discussion forum for Christian theology, not for
politics, the political aspect of this affair must be left aside. But Chief
Rabbi Friedmann’s repeated statement that "a Jewish state created with
weapons and by the use of force contradicts the will of God" happens to be the
very same view which is advocated in the contributions of Immanuel.at, and it
has frequently been the topic of lively discussion in this forum.
Whereas the advocates of the "1948 Gathering" theory take the view that the
founding of the state of Israel, in 1948, was the beginning of the gathering of
Israel from all over the world as prophesied in the Bible, at Immanuel.at it has
repeatedly been demonstrated in the light of Scripture that the foundation of
the Israeli state in 1948 was by no means the return of Israel to its land as
promised by God, but rather was (and still is) a gathering sustained and carried
on by Theodor Herzl’s Zionist comrades in arms ‒ the product,
then, of human will and aspiration.
The proof here is demonstrable: it lies in the fact that the gathering of Israel
that is willed by God has various preconditions, and is to have certain
subsequent effects on the behavior of the people of Israel.
For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.
Ezk 36,22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus
says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am
about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations
where you went. 36,23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has
been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then
the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I
prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 36,24 For I will take
you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own
land. 36,25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be
clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols."
Eze 36,22-25;
In this passage, at Eze 36,23-24 for instance, we are told that
through the gathering together of Israel the
nations will know that God is the Lord.
What, now, have the nations of the world learned since the year
1948, in connection with the development of Israel?
- They have learned that it is not possible with
impunity to drive an entire people ‒ the Palestinians ‒ out of their
own country or to intern them in their own country in "refugee camps".
- The whole world has learned that this return of
Israel in the time since 1948 was not a gathering of the people by God, but an
occupation founded on military force, leading to thousands of deaths on both
sides.
- If the assertion of the Zionists ‒ which is
unfortunately also supported by some Christian commentators ‒ were
correct, that this is the return of Israel that is willed by God, the nations of
the world would also have learned that the God of Israel has for over 50 years
been unable to fulfill his prophecies. Seen from this angle, the claim that this
prophecy has been fulfilled already comes close to being blasphemous.
(See also Discourse 08: "The
gathering of Israel: already since 1948, or not to happen until the Last Days?")
Moreover the Lord promises in Eze 36,24 above to take his people
from the nations, gather them together from all lands and bring them back to
Israel. And in the same breath we find the statement "Then I will sprinkle
clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your
filthiness and from all your idols." This, then, is another of the
consequences of the gathering promised by God: when the Lord has brought them to
Israel, he will cleanse them from all their filthiness.
But if we now consider the people of Israel as it is today, it differs in no way
from the heathen nations. It was and is not the Lord, their God and ours, who
led them (Jer 16,15; 31,8; etc.). The Almighty has no influence or importance
either for Israel’s politics or for its economics, or even, in some respects,
for its religion.
Many of the Jews living in Israel today may be Jews in terms of their origins,
but not in terms of the promise. Moreover it is a fact that a great part of the
population of Israel ‒ especially the great majority of Russian immigrants
‒ is without any religion at all. It is such people who are referred to by
those passages in the Old Testament which see the land of Israel as being
inhabited in the Last Days, and yet complain that the people dwelling in
Jerusalem refuse to know the Lord their God, but instead worship idols (the
idols of politics, economics, finance etc.).
There is also the fact that since the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by
Titus in the year 70 AD, religious service in keeping with the Scriptures has
not been possible in Israel. Sacrifice and meal offerings can be made, in
keeping with the Jewish code, only when there is a Temple with an altar in
Jerusalem, on Mount Zion.
Israel, then, is "without sacrifice" today, as we read in Hos 3,4.
For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince, without sacrifice.
Hos 3,4 For the sons of Israel will remain for
many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and
without ephod or household idols. 3,5 Afterward the sons of Israel will
return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will
come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days. Hos 3,
4- 5;
Only afterwards, that is, at the end of this long period, will
the Israelites return and seek the Lord their God, "and they will come
trembling to the Lord and to His goodness in the last days". And this, now, is
plainly one of the conditions for the return of Israel to its land: that it be
converted to its God.
The sons of Israel and of Judah will come, they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek.
Jer 50,4 "In those days and at that time,"
declares the LORD, "the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons
of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD
their God they will seek. 50,5 They will ask for the way to Zion,
turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join
themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten".
Jer 50, 4- 5;
All Israel will be saved until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Rom 11,25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be
uninformed of this mystery‒so that you will not be wise in your own
estimation‒that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the
fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 11,26 and so all Israel will be
saved; just as it is written, "the deliverer will come from Zion, He will
remove ungodliness from Jacob." 11,27 "This is My covenant with them, when I
take away their sins." Rom 11,25-27;
As a precondition for the gathering and return of the people to
its land as promised by Scripture, we can also draw the fairly clear conclusion
from Rom 11,25 that this will only begin when the hearts of the Gentiles have
hardened to such a degree that there is no chance that any more of them will
turn to God. Only then will the Israelites be converted to their God, and seek
him (another precondition) trembling and weeping. But as ‒ thank the Lord
‒ there are still many Gentiles who are turning to God, and on the other
hand the Jews are not yet seeking their God trembling and weeping, it is quite
clear that the time of these promises has not yet dawned.
But as the Israelites have returned to their land all the same ‒ as a
result of their own political endeavors and not at the bidding of their God
‒ while on the other hand the prophecies of the gathering of the
Israelites from the entire world must one day, in spite of this, be fulfilled,
the Jews in Israel ‒ if we are to take these prophecies seriously ‒
will once again, for a last time, be subjected to the terror and torment of
deportation and Diaspora.
(See also Chapter 02: "The
conquest and the dispersion of Jerusalem.")
The question to what extent this banishment of the Jews in
Israel that is to be expected in later times could have been avoided if they had
not willfully, without any of the attendant circumstances prophesied in
Scripture having shown themselves, returned to their land makes us think of the
laments of the LORD over this people (Ps 95,10-11): "They are a people who err
in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger,
Truly they shall not enter into My rest." (cf. Heb 3,10-11).
Only after this last trial, then, will God gather them from this Diaspora of
later times and bring them back to their land. The Israelites who will then
remain will be that remnant who will seek their God trembling and weeping. To
them belong all those promises of the Kingdom of God on earth, and also the
loving assurance made by God "I will put My law within them and on their heart
I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it.
Jer 31,31 "Behold, days are coming," declares
the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, 31,32 not like the covenant which I made with their
fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,"
declares the LORD. 31,33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the
house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My
law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and
they shall be My people. 31,34 They will not teach again, each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD," for they will
all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the
LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more."" Jer 31,31-34;
I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them.
Jer 24,6 ‘For I will set My eyes on them for
good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not
overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 24,7 ‘I
will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be
My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole
heart. Jer 24, 6- 7;
Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I gathered them again to their own land.
Hes 39,26 "They will forget their disgrace and
all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live
securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. 39,27 When I
bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their
enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many
nations. 39,28 Then they will know that I am the LORD their God
because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them
again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.
39,29 I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured
out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Hes
39,26-29;
Here too, in Eze 39,26.28, we see another of the subsequent
effects which will be found after the gathering of the people of Israel: they
will live securely on their own land and they will know that God is the Lord.
And the Almighty will pour out his spirit on the house of Israel.
As we know, the Israelites have now been living for over 50 years in their land
without any kind of security, and are now actually being forced to erect a
protective wall right across the country, with a height of about 8 meters and a
length of 350 kilometers, for an estimated cost of 700 million dollars. As for
the spirit of God being poured out on the people of Israel as they are today,
probably not even the Israelis themselves would care to make such a claim.
The most obvious feature that proves that this return of the people since 1948
is not the gathering promised by God is the fact that Israel has had to fight
the Palestinians for this land from the very beginning, and thousands of people
have been killed on both sides in a war that has now lasted for fifty years!
This cannot be the will of God, and it is not the will of God either, as we are
told by a relevant Old Testament prophecy, in Hosea 1,5-7:
I will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.
Hos 1,5 "On that day I will break the bow of
Israel in the valley of Jezreel." 1,6 Then she conceived again and gave
birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, "Name her Lo-ruhamah, for
I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever
forgive them. 1,7 "But I will have compassion on the house of Judah
and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow,
sword, battle, horses or horsemen." Hos 1, 5- 7;
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the LORD of hosts.
Zech 4,6 Then he said to me, "This is the word
of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My
Spirit," says the LORD of hosts.. Zech 4, 6;
In 1948 Israel has occupied Palestine by force of arms in
contradiction to Scriptures and to the will of God, expelled the inhabitants and
founded a Zionist state. They are "the house of Israel" in the
prophecy of the Prophet Hosea here above, on which God no more will have
compassion, that he would ever forgive them.
Completely different is the "house of Judah" which the Prophet names,
on which God will have compassion and deliver them by the LORD their God, and
will not deliver them by arms and war. These are the orthodox true-believing
Jews in the whole world, who trust in their God and accept in humility the fate
of the Diaspora which God has laid upon them. They did not go to Israel and
remained in the Diaspora as it is written in Scriptures. They only will return
when the prophecies will be fulfilled and the Messiah had come and lead them
back into their land. So it is highly probable that it is all the descendants of
these true-believing orthodox Jews over the whole world, who will actually be
gathered in when the Messiah comes, and brought back to their land of Israel.
(See also Chapter 09: "The
return home of the redeemed.")
Likewise the relative insignificance of Israel in the world of
politics, which without the "patronage" of the USA would be even more
marked, is in contrast with the scriptural promises for the time after the
gathering and return willed by God have come about.
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations.
Jer 31,7 For thus says the LORD, "Sing
aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations;
Proclaim, give praise and say, ‘O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of
Israel.’ 31,8 Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will
gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the
lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great
company, they will return here." Jer 31, 7- 8;
According to Jer 31,7 above, after the gathering to its own land
Israel is to be the "chief of the nations" ‒ that is to say, the
leading nation on earth (see also Deut 28,1). If we consider Israel today and
its politics in relation to the neighboring countries, we can only be glad that
the advocates of the "1948 Gathering" theory are mistaken in their view,
otherwise this world today would probably look rather different.
From 1948 to the present time, then, not one of the prerequisites or subsequent
effects that were prophesied in connection with the gathering and return of
Israel ‒ such as the conversion of Israel to its God, the pouring out of
the Holy Spirit on the people of Israel, the indication that on this occasion
the Israelites will come weeping and will seek their God, the end of wars etc.
etc. ‒ have been fulfilled.
From this only one conclusion can be drawn: that this "gathering" since 1948
cannot possibly be fulfillment of the scriptural prophecies in question. This
return of Israel was the work of Theodor Herzl’s Zionists, who carried on
this project with great success. The gathering of the people of Israel that is
promised in Scripture, on the other hand, will be brought about by a different
person.
The Messiah (Christ) will bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him.
Isa 49,1 Listen to Me, O islands, And pay
attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the
body of My mother He named Me. 49,2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select
arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. 49,3 He said to Me, "You are My
Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory." 49,4 But I said, "I have
toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the
justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God."
49,5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To
bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I
am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength),49,6 He says,
"It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also
make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the
earth." Isa 49, 1- 6;
The above passage, Isa 49,1-6, tell us who will bring back
Israel and gather it to its God. It is Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God, Our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has not only become a light to the Gentiles but will also
in these Last Days become the redeemer of the people of God who are of Israel.
He will re-erect the fallen booth of David and build it as it was in former
times.
One thing, though, applies here to Jews as it does to us Christians: before
their Messiah and Our Lord Jesus Christ comes, Scripture tells us that a
deceiver will appear who will proclaim himself as the "true" Christ, that is
to say, as the "true Messiah" (Gr. Christos = anointed one = Hebr.
Messiah). This Antichrist will be given miraculous powers by Satan and will
lead the whole world astray, including the Jews. It is therefore very important
to be aware that the first "Christ/Messiah" who comes will be an impostor.
(See also Chapter 01: "The
seventieth week of seven years.")
As can easily be established in the light of our exposition up
to this point, the Christian position is in complete agreement with the views of
the Orthodox Jewish congregation and its Chief Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedmann. Both
sides confirm that
- a Jewish state like Israel which has been set up by
force of arms contradicts the will of God
- the state of Israel founded in 1948 was the result
only of the political will and endeavors of the Zionists
- this "gathering" since the year 1948 is in no way
the fulfillment of the prophecies in this respect in Holy Scripture
- the true gathering of the people of Israel from all
over the world as intended by God, and its return to its own land, will only
take place when the Messiah comes.
And although Jews and Christians are characterized by
fundamental differences of belief on many articles of faith ‒ especially
with regard to Jesus of Nazareth ‒ in this case two identical statements
emerge, quite independent of each other; and the reason for this is that both
sides derive their understanding of these events exclusively from the
unadulterated words of Holy Scripture.
Those, then, who place the gathering of Israel promised by God back in the year
1948 have either not studied the relevant statements made by Scripture in
sufficient depth, or else they are suppressing all these contradictions so that
they will not have to give up a relatively striking element in Christian
preaching ‒ a "trump card": the so-called "proof" that this
prophecy has been fulfilled in our own time. One participant in the discussion (W.
Hink of the "Christadelphian") put it in the following terms, not long
ago, in this discussion forum:
"In thinking to deny that the return of Israel to
its land before the eyes of the generations who have lived from 1948 up to the
present is God’s doing, you are giving away the highest trump card that he has
given us for our proclamation of the gospel today. In the return home of Israel
in our days we have the best, because palpable, proof that the Bible really is
God’s revelation of his intentions and therefore that it is true!"
(See also Discourse 29: "Are
we living in the Last Days?")
The "trump card" ‒ if that is really how we want to
think of it ‒ and the ‘palpable proof that the Bible really is God’s
revelation of his intentions, and therefore that it is true" is something that
we Biblical Christians will look for not in the year 1948 or in the gathering
of the people of Israel ‒ though that might be Israel’s "trump card"
‒ but rather two thousand years ago, in the cross on Golgotha. There Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, performed the redeeming sacrifice for the
sins of the world. This is the "good news", this is the gospel that must be
proclaimed ‒ and not the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
But characteristically that same participant in the discussion quoted above, and
his congregation of Christian believers, refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ
was God, and deny his divinity in the same way as the High Priest Kaiphas once
did when Jesus was condemned to death. It is therefore not surprising that he
should be lacking the most important argument for his "proclamation of the
gospel" ‒ namely that God in his Son, Jesus Christ, died as a man for
the salvation of the world ‒ so that he needs this "trump card" as a
substitute.
(See also Discourse 1072E: "Is
the Trinity only an activity of God in three persons?")
But to come back now to Chief Rabbi Friedmann and the Orthodox
Jewish religious community ‒ it can be very clearly seen that there are
important differences of belief between them and the other Jewish religious
communities. The refusal of these Orthodox Jews to go to Israel preserves them
from involvement with all that is taking place in that country, and so having to
share the responsibility for it in the sight of God.
Here it is not just a matter of the general leveling of belief which is ever
more prevalent in that country, but also of moral developments, which step by
step look more and more like those of the rest of the world. So for instance the
forced resignation of Ezer Weizmann and Benjamin Netanjahu from
the two highest offices of state ‒ that of President and that of Prime
Minister ‒ for bribery and corruption were not isolated incidents. Even
the member of parliament and leader of the religious "Shas" party, Ariel
Deri, was condemned in court for corruption and dishonesty.
The decision of these orthodox Jews ‒ who also call themselves "Jews
true to their faith" ‒ to accept patiently the fate of the Diaspora that
God has laid on them, until the coming of the Messiah, of necessity puts them in
the situation promised in Scripture, so that at the coming of the Messiah they
will be scattered throughout the world. They therefore fulfill the first of the
basic prerequisites for this prophecy: they are Jews, they are true believers
and they are scattered among all countries and not in Israel, where, according
to Scripture, the wrath of God will fall upon the Jews and only a small remnant
will survive
.
I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered.
Ezk 20,1 "As a soothing aroma I will accept you when
I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are
scattered; and I will prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the
nations." Eze 20,41;
I will gather the outcast, and their shame into praise and renown In all the earth.
Zeph 3,19 "Behold, I am going to deal at that
time With all your oppressors, I will save the lame And gather the outcast,
And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth. 3,20 At
that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together;
Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth,
When I restore your fortunes before your eyes," Says the LORD. Zeph 3,19-20;
he peoples will take them along and bring them to their place.
Isa 14,1 When the LORD will have compassion on
Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then
strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
14,2 The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place,
and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the
LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors
captive and will rule over their oppressors. Isa 14, 1- 2;
In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
Zech 8,20 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘It
will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 8,21
‘The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, Let us go at once to
entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I will also go."
8,22 ‘So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts
in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.’ 8,23 "Thus says the LORD
of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the
garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is
with you."‘" Zech 8,20-23;
They will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
Isa 49,22 Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will
lift up My hand to the nations And set up My standard to the peoples; And
they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on
their shoulders." Isa 49,22;
According to Scripture, then, it is highly probable that it is
above all the descendants of these men and women, of these true-believing
orthodox Jews over the whole world, who will actually be gathered in when the
Messiah comes, and brought back to their land of Israel. They are the ones
referred to by all those promises that God has made to his people: from the
pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and the new and eternal covenant with their God,
to their becoming "chief among the nations".
God keeps His lovingkindness to those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Deut 7.9 "Know therefore that the LORD your
God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His
lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His
commandments; 7,10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy
them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.
Deut 7, 9-10;
(…) Channel 3, on the other hand, found a Rabbi in a
keffieh – even monkeys are wearing them now, can you imagine? – namely the
Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedmann, of the Jewish Orthodox community of Vienna.
This can be expected to give pleasure to Sharon, who generally praises
Orthodox Rabbis to the skies.
"A few dozen meters from the hospital a Rabbi, Moishe Arye Friedmann,
states that he has come from Vienna to show his support for Yasser Arafat
and the Palestinian people. «We have had contacts with Palestinians in
Austria for some time», the 34-year-old Rabbi announces. He is wearing the
traditional Ashkenazy headgear of the Jews of the East, and also has a scarf
in the Palestinian colors round his neck. He explains that he has come,
together with other Jews, in order to «support the President of the
Palestinian Authority, to pray for his health and to demonstrate his
solidarity with the Palestinians»."
I know that there are sh..ts in all walks of life, but the Jewish Orthodox
community has more of them than any other.
https://www.immanuel.at/Diskurs46E.html
It’s a pity that they go on reproducing themselves.
(This contribution had been taken from the Israel-French
Forum for Discussion
https://forum.israelfr.com/discus/messages/19/9524.html?1099682277.)
This contribution by Guitl Zajden to a French-Israeli
discussion forum would hardly be worth referring to, but for the fact that it
points to a paradox. The author quotes a report from the broadcasting station
"France 3", one that is fully objective and correct, and takes the
opportunity of distorting it in order to let loose a hate-filled tirade against
an entire Jewish ethnic group.
This mode of expression is self-revealing, and
those of us who are older will find it all too familiar. The Nazis too saw the
Jews as shits who had to be extirpated. The remark at the end of this offering -
"It’s a pity that they go on reproducing themselves" – can likewise be
assimilated without incongruity to the jargon of those criminals of the Third
Reich, from which we can infer the spiritual and intellectual level of the
author.
If things are as they appear to be, then the author of this contribution is not
a Neo-Nazi but a Jew. A Zionist Jew, admittedly, but still a Jew – one who here
describes his co-religionists as shits and regrets that they go on reproducing
themselves. And now the Jews have repeatedly asserted that they will never be
able to forget the Holocaust and the sufferings that the Jewish people went
through at that time.
But it is evident that characters are frequently to be found
in their own ranks who prove the exact opposite: Jews who preach hatred of
entire ethnic groups of other Jews – ones moreover who still stand by their
faith – and are capable of saying that they regard the right of these their
brothers and sisters to propagate themselves as an evil.
And that, now, is the paradox.
My complete solidarity and support for the Lebanese people
and its resistance fighters, above all for Hezbollah and its leader Sheikh
Hasan Nasrallah, has resulted in astonishment and debate. So I would like
here to make the facts perfectly plain. We have to do here on the one hand
with a state the sovereignty of which is being injured for no good reason,
together with a Shiite resistance movement that has an uncontrovertible
right to exist, and on the other hand with the Zionist regime, which has no
right to exist either in biblical or in historical terms and has no
legitimation whatever, either based on the law of nations or in terms of the
fundamental principles of our Jewish religion. We pray and hope that it will
not be long before true peace is realized in the Near East, above all in the
Holy Land. We pray too for an end to the shedding of the blood of innocent
people, whether they are Christians, Moslems or Jews. We pray for peace and
justice in Lebanon, Baghdad, Tehran and the whole of Palestine, with a
Jerusalem that has been liberated from Zionism.
Moishe Arye Friedmann, Chief Rabbi of the Orthodox Antizionist Jewish
Community in Vienna.
("Die Presse" ["The Press"], 5 August 2006) https://www.diepresse.com/)
The invasion of Lebanon, and the bombardment of Lebanese cities
– resulting in the death of more than 600 civilians and the displacement of many
thousand families more from the theater of war so far – has been justified by
the Israeli government as an appropriate reaction to the capture of two Israeli
soldiers on 11 July 2006 by the Hezbollah militia.
From mid-July onwards, even in the immediate presence of the UN observation post
in Lebanon (UNIFIL), on the Israeli border, the bombing has continued. Although
the post commander of the UN support point requested the Israeli military
leadership in no less than ten radio telephone communications to desist from
bombing in the proximity of the UN observation point, the building was
nonetheless bombarded, and completely destroyed, on 25 July. The attack resulted
in the death of four UN officers – one Chinese, one Finn, one Canadian and one
Austrian.
Following this, by analogy with the Israeli way of proceeding, China, Finland,
Canada and Austria should now invade Israel, bombard cities and murder innocent
civilians.
But neither these four countries, nor the UNO, has the least idea – and quite
rightly – of resorting to any such extreme measures. The general community of
nations – including Communist China – would reject any such ideas, on moral and
ethical grounds.
Unlike Israel!
God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.
Rom 11,7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has
not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were
hardened; 11,8 just as it is written (*), "God gave them a spirit of
stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day."
11,9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap. and a
stumbling block and a retribution to them. 11,10 "Let their eyes be
darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever." Rom 11, 7-10;
(*) Deuteronomy / 5th Book of Mose / The Book Speeches 29,3
Israel in the light of the Bible.Based on the Old TestamentGod has completely taken away his compassion from the house of
Israel (Hos 1:6). They are no longer his people (Hos 1:9). Only the house
of Judah will be saved by the Lord. Not by war, however, but by his Spirit
(Hos 1:7). And only in the Millennium, when the Son of God has entered on
his thousand years rule on earth (Hos 1:10; 2,18 Eze 34:25; Isa 2:4), will
the Lord once more accept Israel as his people (Hos 2:23; Jer 31:27-28). Based on the New TestamentIt is God’s will that we should listen to his Son (Mt 17:5). This same Son
of God has told us that anyone who rejects him rejects God as well (1Jn
2:23; Lk 10:16; Jn 5:22-23. 15:23). The people of Israel today deny the
Son of God and abuse him as an impostor and blasphemer. As a result of
this denial of the Son, Israel has also rejected the Father and so is a
God-less people. (Jn 8:24) |
At the recent Middle East Summit on 27 November 2007 in
Annapolis, USA, the Israeli side should have positioned itself better. As
the Israeli daily Ha’aretz writes, the US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice had to exert a great deal of pressure on the Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas to get him to soften his stance. In the statement of
Annapolis Palestinians and Israelis agreed on 27 November 2007 to talk, as
of 12 December 2007, about a two-state solution, thus the creation of a
Palestinian state. An agreement is scheduled for the end of 2008.
Outside the summit Orthodox Jews protested against Zionism
and the State of Israel.
I grew up as a Jew and probably one of the most
unforgettable things I heard in Sabbath School was … one day…Jews…would
rule the world.
Whether it was called the ‘Messianic Age’ … or a ‘Time of World
Peace’ … it all boiled down to the very same thing: Gentiles would be
under the all-powerful thumb of modern Jewry.
Now, what would be the SIGNS of Jewish world control? And what will herald
the time of its coming?
Permit me to outline a few of those signs and I’ll let you decide whether
or not the ‘apocalypse’ indeed has already arrived.
First of all, when you see the coining of money in the hands of the Jews – as
we see in the case of the Jewish-owned Federal Reserve Bank that has risen
to control the money of the world’s leading superpower, America – then you’ll
know that Jews rule the world.
Or?…when you see Jewish-crafted legislation that usurps the US
Constitution – as evidenced by the NDAA (National Defense Authorization
Act), sponsored by Jewish Senator Carl Levin, which authorizes the US
military to arrest American citizens without trial; and its recent
Amendment, sponsored by Jewish Senator Dianne Feinstein, which gives
the military the implicit right to intrude upon civil law enforcement, which
is forbidden by the Constitution… and at best gives the Amendment’s
victim a Military Tribunal Trial held at a Gitmo-styled (Guantánamo Bay
Detention Camp) torture camp – then you’ll know that Jews rule the world.
When it’s clear as day that the major mass media is owned by Jewish moguls – as
is the case with CBS, ABC, and NBC (no, they’re not owned by ‘corporate
elites’ as Alex Jones and other Jewish apologists and shills would have us
believe) – then you’ll know that Jewish rule is here to stay.
Or? when you see Jewish groups infiltrating our Public Schools and their
curricula with degenerate Homosexual and lurid Holocaust books – I can
quickly point to the Jewish-run ADL (Anti Defamation League) and how the
American Federation of Teachers (yes, Jewish-run), has approved vile books
like "Daddy’s New Roommate Frank" (stories about gay and lesbian
families), "Daddy’s Wedding" (Daddy marries Frank), and that perennial
book of lies by the fraud high priest, Elie Wiesel’s "Night" – then
you’ll know that Jews have gained an unbreakable lock on young people’s
minds and souls.
And when you see International Jewish Finance Capital installing Gentile
shills as Heads of nations and their Central Banks – as evidenced by Jewish
Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, with its squad of ‘Goldman Goys’ – then
you’ll know that Jews rule the world.
Of course, none of this will mean much to you if your head is buried in
beer, Prozac…and Super Bowl Sunday.
But – if you’re wide awake – then that ‘Jewish Age’ of total control
we were told about as children: sadly…unquestionably…absolutely…(you
won’t have to wait a hundred years from now)…has decisively arrived.
Brother Nathanael Kapner is a recognized monastic with the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Of Russia (ROCOR) where he is officially
recognized as a "poslushnik"/"novice" monk.
Brother Nathanael speaks and writes as a former Jew--now an Orthodox
Christian--and not in any official capacity with the ROCOR jurisdiction. He
resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
After eight years of monastic communal life (1996-2005), Brother Nathanael
has been engaged in a public mission through his Street Evangelism efforts
and as an Internet publicist.
His most recent endeavor as President of The Brother Nathanael
Foundation, is to bring a Christian consciousness and influence to
every sphere of American life.
Brother
Nathanael Foundation An independent, non-profit corporation, dedicated
to the promotion of Christian principles in American society.
e-mail: brothernathanaelfoundation@yahoo.com
(See also: Discourse 112: "The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion – the Analysis")
Under the rubble of Jewish bombs exploding in the ‘Open
Air Prison’ known as Gaza Strip, a larger question emerges:
Does Israel have a "right to exist?"
The term "right to exist" as applied to nations is nowhere recognized in
international law.
People have a right to exist, but nations come and go.
The Jews have denied the Palestinian people that right to exist whose land
and resources they stole…and are now scheming to steal Gaza Strip’s
new-found, offshore oil.
And no world pressure will stop Netanyahu.
[Clip: "No international pressure will prevent us from acting with full
force against a terrorist organization that calls for our destruction."]
Wait a minute.
Hamas has repeatedly called for ceasefires via the mediation of Egypt.
But Israel isn’t interested in a ceasefire. They want Gaza’s oil.
Now Bibzi says that no other country would tolerate what Israel is going
through.
[Clip: "Recently, Hamas terrorists have fired hundreds of rockets at
Israel’s civilians. No other country lives under nor would accept such a
threat."]
No way. What country has ever rounded up legitimate owners of its land into
an Open Air Prison and then called them a "threat?"
Israel even used the so-called ‘kidnapping’ of Israeli teenagers to
initiate the bombing of Gaza…and democratically-elected Hamas has the
right to defend its people from aggression.
On May 14, 1948, Ben Gurion and Golda Meyerson, with 34 other Zionist
usurpers, "declared" that Arabs were no longer owners of their land –
it now belonged to the Jews.
And today, Zio-christian John Hagee makes God an accomplice to Jewish theft
by claiming that Jews rightfully own Palestinian land.
[Clip: "God gave the land of Israel to Abraham in an eternal blood
covenant four thousand years ago. The land of Israel belonged to the Jewish
people then, it belongs to the Jewish people today, and it will belong to
the Jewish people forever."]
No, you stupid ass.
God promised the land to Abraham and quote: "to his seed"…that is,
those "born" miraculously as Isaac was.
For "in Isaac," God said, would Abraham’s seed be called. Orthodox
Christians are born miraculously through baptism (Rom 9:6-8).
Esau was Abraham’s physical seed, yet due to his bad character he was
disqualified from inheriting the land. Just like Jews today. Their bad
character disqualifies them.
It’s the "meek who shall inherit the earth," (Mt 5:5) says Jesus
Christ. Not those who crucified Him.
I don’t see much "meekness" in Israel’s leaders, do you?
Palestinians are the legal owners of the land of Israel (Palestine).
And their right of return is sanctioned by international law.
It’s time to return to the rule of law and NOT frame-ups tailor-made for
the Jews.
Brother Nathanael Kapner is a recognized monastic with the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Of Russia (ROCOR) where he is officially
recognized as a "poslushnik"/"novice" monk.
Brother Nathanael speaks and writes as a former Jew--now an Orthodox
Christian--and not in any official capacity with the ROCOR jurisdiction. He
resides in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
After eight years of monastic communal life (1996-2005), Brother Nathanael
has been engaged in a public mission through his Street Evangelism efforts
and as an Internet publicist.
His most recent endeavor as President of The Brother Nathanael
Foundation, is to bring a Christian consciousness and influence to
every sphere of American life.
Brother
Nathanael Foundation An independent, non-profit corporation, dedicated
to the promotion of Christian principles in American society.
e-mail: brothernathanaelfoundation@yahoo.com
Religious Jews, survivors and victims of the Holocaust, will
for the first time since the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany,
make a public appearance in Germany and express their view of history. They
contend that the leadership of the Zionist state has no right to exploit the
Jewish victims of World War II for their political goals, to evade
criticism, or as an "alibi" for the oppression of the Palestinian
people. This is especially true since the Palestinian people share no
responsibility for the crimes of the Hitler regime. These religious Jews
come to deliver a new message: a plea for justice, together with the
religious conviction that God is ultimately behind the steering wheel of
history. At the same time, they appeal for a new beginning in relations
between Jews and non-Jewish Germans, on the basis of mutual respect. What
lessons do religious Jews learn from the Holocaust? And where does
Torah-loyal Judaism stand today on the issue of the slow genocide being
committed against the Palestinian people?
The above questions and more will be discussed by the following speakers:
Rabbi Moshe Ber Beck (USA) Holocaust survivor
Rabbi Yisrael David Weiss (USA) Grandparents murdered in Auschwitz
Rabbi Ahron Cohen (UK) Holocaust survivor
Rabbi Jouseph Antebi (Jerusalem, NL, Berlin) Victim of Zionist persecution
Reuven Cabelman (Berlin, Antwerp) Berlin spokesman for the Neturei Karta
International
organizer of the Press Conference Moderator: Christoph Hörstel (Neue Mitte)
Video of the Press Conference: https://www.nkusa.org/activities/Press/20100127.cfm
(See also Discourse 101: "The
"Israel movement" in the Christian congregations")
Demonstrations and protests are taking place in
international cities such as London, New York, Washington DC, Montreal and
Jerusalem
For updated information, we will be updating this page on our website:
https://www.nkusa.org/activities/Press/20100603Flotilla.cfm
Neturei
Karta condamne l’assaut d’Israel contre la Flottille
DISCURSO
PRONUNCIADO EL DIA 31 DE MAYO DE 2010
"Authentic Orthodox Jewry worldwide decries
unequivocally the cold-blooded slaughter carried out by the Zionist
occupational forces against innocent, peaceful and freedom-loving noble
activists committed to peace and human rights," said Rabbi David
Feldman of Neturei Karta International. "This brutal attack took place
in international waters on ships bearing humanitarian aid for our brethren,
the Palestinian residents in the besieged Gaza Strip. It was an explicitly
illegal act which breaches, in a serious manner, basic G-dly human rights,
justice and law.
"This kind of behavior is, unfortunately, only to be expected from the
Zionists," he continued. "Their state’s entire existence was built
from the very start on Heresy, robbery and murder. They oppressed, murdered
and expelled an entire people from its land.
Rabbis of Neturei Karta participate in the Gaza Freedom
March in Gaza City, on December 27, 2009
"All of this pains us especially because it was done in
the name of the entire Jewish people and in the name of the Jewish religion.
The truth is that the Torah totally opposes everything they do. The Torah
teaches us mercy, the Torah forbids murder, and the Torah forbids stealing.
According to the Torah, the entire land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean
Sea must be returned to the Palestinian people." "Jews are in
exile by Divine decree, and any attempts at ending this Almighty’s decree is
a rebellion against G-d. The Torah teaches that a rebellion against G-d
cannot be successful.
"We find it imperative to clearly declare that the State of
"Israel" does not represent the Jewish people, and certainly not
the Jewish religion. They have no right to speak in our name, nor in the
name of the holy Torah. They profane the Holy Land with their abominations,
slaughters and countless other actions that emanate from this illegitimate
State. Furthermore, the actual existence of this State is illegitimate as
the holy Torah strictly and explicitly forbids any Jewish rule over the Holy
Land. When the Zionist movement arose a century ago, our rabbis all warned
us not to have any connection with them.
Members of Neturei Karta join Viva Palestina aid convoy
to Gaza in July 2009, they donated a truck of medical aid
border="0"
"The Zionists with their perversion of Judaism have
blackened the name of Jews and the Torah throughout the world. They are the
worst enemies of G-d, of the Torah and of the true Jewish people who have
always remained faithful to G-d in all circumstances. Subsequently, they are
the greatest cause of exacerbating anti Semitism around the world.
"Jews throughout the centuries have always been on excellent terms with
their Arab neighbors. The past centuries, during which Sephardic Jewry lived
in thriving communities all over the Arab world, were a golden age between
our peoples. Who brought this golden age to an end? Only political Zionism.
Actually, even today there are some Arab and Muslim countries that still
have Jewish communities living peacefully in their midst. And even the
Palestinians (from both major parties) have declared that they have no
problem with Jews living amongst them; they are only opposed to political
Zionism.
"We express our profound condolences to the families of the murdered
innocents, as well as our heartfelt wishes for speedy recoveries to all
those wounded by the Zionist occupational forces. May Heaven send you
complete and swift healing.
"We hope and we pray for a peaceful and speedy end to the Zionist
state. Then Jews will be able to live peacefully in Palestine under a
Palestinian government, just as they live under other Arab countries to this
day.
"May we merit the fulfillment of the prophets’ promise of the
revelation of G-d’s kingship over the entire world, at which time all
peoples will serve Him in unity."
Neturei Karta International
Neturei Karta International
P. O. Box 1316, Monsey, NY 10952
www.nkusa.org
He was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, as the son of Polish
holocaust victim, and he has criticized Israel sharply on repeated
occasions. The key thesis of Moshe Zuckermann, a professor of history and
philosophy who has just brought out a new and complex book (Antisemit
‒ published by Promediaverlag, 208 pp, EUR 15.90) is that many Jews
and Israeli politicians "make a ploy of the holocaust and antisemitism in
order to gag their critics."
KURIER: Isn’t your thesis actually a bit extreme?
Moshe Zuckermann: Not at all. Look here, antisemitism does exist of
course, and it should be opposed, wherever it shows its ugly visage. But
what I mean is the accusation of antisemitism, which is used by the powerful
to make political capital and with which they try to annihilate their
critics. Anyone who criticizes Israel is not automatically anti-Semitic.
This would be a complete loss of distinctions. It must be possible to call a
spade a spade when it comes to Israel’s barbaric policy of injustice
against the Palestinians.
You think this doesn’t happen enough outside the Arab world?
Yes, above all in Germany, where it is taboo to criticize Israel, right up
to the highest echelons of politics. The German left above all has developed
a blind solidarity with Jewishness. But people like Michel Friedman or Henry
M. Broder (both Zionistic Jews who take up the cudgels to defend Israel
against its critics, FH) have absolutely no idea of Israeli realities. I
am speaking in this connection of a kind of philo-Semitism, which is based
on the same resentment and so is nothing other than antisemitism
inverted.
Do you not get applause for your thesis from quarters to which you would
rather not be indebted?
Of course that has been the case for years, but the alternative would be to
keep silent on what I think is right and important. But I won’t let myself
be hijacked or gagged.
How do you see the role of Israel in the Middle East conflict with the
Palestinians?
Even after 40 years of an occupying regime, Israel is still trying to make
out that it is a victim. Finally it comes down to a quite simple question
‒ does Israel want to exist, and can it not understand that it is
heading into a self made abyss. Accordingly there are just two
possibilities. Israel gives back the occupied territories, with the risk of
a civil war ensuing. Or it does not, and then there is the risk of a
regional war which ‒ being conducted with new weapons ‒ would
reduce half the Middle East to rubble and ashes. That would be the end of
the state of Israel and of Zionism.
Haaretz, 03.12.10
(This interview conducted by Walter Friedl appeared in the
Austrian daily KURIER, 21 October 2010.)
Julian Assange is a dangerous criminal. This strange man
with his long blond hair and misanthropic expression is not merely a
cyberterrorist of a new kind. He is not merely a delusory anarchist
humiliating the greatest power on earth. He is not merely an uninhibited
megalomaniac disrupting modern diplomacy and undermining the world order.
Assange is a dangerous criminal because he has shattered the accepted dogma
on the understanding in the Middle East in the 21st century.
This dogma stated the following: The main problem in the Middle East is the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The main problem in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is the occupation. The main problem in the occupation is the
settlements. Therefore if we just stop the settlements, the occupation will
begin to end, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be solved and the Middle
East will be stable.
In the last decade, this dogma became fixed and was sanctified. It became a
kind of core belief that cannot be questioned. This was the truth they swore
to in the White House, the Elysee Palace and 10 Downing Street. This was the
truth they reported in The Washington Post, Le Monde and The Guardian. This
was the truth that incorporated the supreme moral gravity that formed the
worldview of enlightened elites in the West and directed the policies of the
Western powers.
Then along came Assange and shattered the dogma. The secret documents that
WikiLeaks published proved that the settlements, the occupation and even the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict were not the main problem in the Middle East.
The confidential e-mails proved that the world they were talking about in
Washington, Paris and London was an imaginary world. Assange proved that
there was no connection between the real Middle East and the Middle East
they talk about in The Washington Post, Le Monde and The Guardian. He
revealed that the entire Arab world is currently busy with one problem only
– Iran, Iran, Iran.
There is no doubt about it – Assange is a dangerous criminal. But he is
dangerous not because he penetrated the Pentagon’s information systems but
because he revealed the Western intelligentsia’s lack of intellectual
integrity. Assange is dangerous not because he leaked state secrets on an
unprecedented scale but because he revealed to us all that the West’s
hegemonic discourse is superficial and mendacious. Assange is dangerous not
because he embarrassed the West’s allies but because he proved that the West
is contaminated by political correctness that cuts it off from the
diplomatic reality. Assange placed a giant mirror in front of us all and
proved the extent to which we had been duped in recent decades. A false
dogma has prevented us from looking logically at the historic challenge
facing us.
But let’s not confuse things. The settlements are indeed a disaster. The
occupation is intolerable. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dangerous.
But now that the blond misanthrope has opened our eyes, we must no longer
shut them. The confidential e-mails must be read and reread so they can be
understood. There is no chance for the current diplomatic process, they say.
There is no chance of signing an Israeli-Palestinian agreement as long as
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is living under the menacing
shadow of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. There is no chance of
regional peace as long as the Arab world is living under Tehran’s incessant
threat.
After all, just as the Egyptian president, the Saudi king and the Gulf emirs
whisper, Iran is the heart of the problem. Iran is the source of the poison
and the source of the consternation. As long as Iran is growing stronger, is
seeking nuclear weapons and is terrorizing the Middle East, there is no
chance for peace.
The lesson is a bitter one. If Iran develops nuclear weapons, peace will
disappear. A nuclear Iran will deal a final blow to the chance of achieving
a compromise between Israelis and Arabs. Therefore the dove of peace has to
be extremely hawkish toward Iran. The peace-seeker must deal with Iran.
The opposite is also true. Anyone who wants to appease Ahmadinejad is
betraying peace. Anyone who takes a lenient view of the ayatollahs is
abandoning Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Abu Mazen. It’s true that a
moratorium on the settlements will help in the struggle against the
centrifuges. But only such a moratorium will make it possible to dismantle
the settlements. When we rise from the ruins of the dogma, the strategic
order of things is utterly clear – Iran first.
Haaretz, 03.12.10
Ari Shavit is a senior correspondent at Haaretz Newspaper and a member of
its editorial board.
It would be something of a miracle if Haaretz failed to defend
the standpoint of the United States. By publishing secret Pentagon documents
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has cast light on the background to
American policies ‒ as well as those of other nations. And immediately he
is branded as a "criminal", a "misanthrope", as an IT terrorist, a
delusory anarchist, a megalomaniac and so on.
Even before reading the rest of Ari Shavit’s article, we can tell from the
very first lines that the real misanthrope is located not in London but at the
Haaretz offices in Jerusalem. Evidently the curbs on freedom of speech and
opinion in Israel are not just restricted to the Jewish Agency’s ban which
prevents immigrants from preaching the gospel or talking about Jesus Christ in
Israel. Now it even seems to be viewed as a capital offense in Israel if
anything is done to demythologize the edifice of lies that is American politics.
But these first few sentences likewise permit us to recognize the actual aim of
this parade of indignation. In fact the writer is not at all concerned with the
problems these revelations cause to the USA, but rather ‒ what else can be
expected of an Israeli writer? ‒ with the problems of Israel and with the
way in which this whole business can be exploited to Israel’s benefit. And so
while Julian Assange is described as a "dangerous criminal", it is not
because of his having brought state secrets to light but because he has
supposedly revealed the true background to the conflict in the Middle East. .
With great elegance and skill, and quite in the style of Mark Antony’s address
to the people of Rome, Mr. Shavit then uses the momentum of events to redirect
the increasing pressure of the international community of nations on Israel
because of the settlements in Jerusalem to a different object ‒ the Arabs,
and in the last resort Iran. According to this argument the settlements are
admittedly a "disaster", the occupation of Palestinian territory is "intolerable"
and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "dangerous". But the key to the
problem is not the Jews, who are actually responsible for all this, but the
Arabs, and Iran in particular. .
Of course as Shavit sees things, it is not Israel who has made peace impossible
with all these problems and by refusing to change anything to date. Instead, he
tells us, "Iran is the source of the poison and the source of the
consternation. As long as Iran is growing stronger, is seeking nuclear weapons
and is terrorizing the Middle East, there is no chance for peace." If Israel
itself, in contravention of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and with the
tacit approval of the UN, already has 200 atomic warheads ready for action
‒ as a result of which Iran may well feel compelled to resort to atomic
weaponry in self-defense ‒ this is a matter which Mr. Shavit, with some
nerve as we may think, does not see fit to mention. .
Finally Mr. Shavit sets up a causal connection which must appear altogether
familiar to anyone who has been following developments in the Middle East. He
balances Tehran’s construction of centrifuges for the production of weapons
grade uranium against the building of settlements in Jerusalem, and observes:
"It’s true that a moratorium on the settlements will help in the struggle
against the centrifuges. But only such a moratorium [on the centrifuges] will
make it possible to dismantle the settlements."
The logic of this cannot fail to remind us of a statement by Palestinian
president Mahmoud Abbas, who in answer to the question why he did not consent to
Israel’s building of the settlements, said in effect "Israel occupies our
country and builds settlements in this country. If we were to consent to the
building of settlements, there would be peace. But then at the same time we
would lose our country. Therefore, only Israel’s returning our country to us
would give us a basis for giving our consent to the settlements."
And quite in keeping with Mr. Shavit’s conclusion, at the end of his article
‒ "When we rise from the ruins of the dogma, the strategic order of
things is utterly clear ‒ Iran first" ‒ so the same applies by
analogy to the Palestinians: if we take into account the consequences for both
sides, here too the strategic order of things is utterly clear – Israel first.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
esteemed guests of honor, dear friends!
I am privileged to welcome you warmly to this event, and am delighted to see so
many prominent personalities, high ranking politicians and university
professors, lawyers, doctors, ambassadors, chief rabbis and rabbis assembled
here today.
My warmest thanks to you all for coming.
I am not used to giving speeches in German, so I must ask for your
understanding. I also mean to keep my address as short and to the point as
possible, after which it will be the turn of my highly esteemed colleagues and
our guests of honor to take the floor.
The situation in which believing Judaism true to the Torah finds itself today is
extremely difficult – indeed practically unbearable. Global political
developments, especially in the Near East, give us grounds for anticipating
serious threats to our future and that of our children. This is associated with
the many lies about the true character of Judaism which have been propagated
worldwide and believed by many. Above all in Germany and Austria many matters
are regarded as taboo, so that anyone audacious enough to speak of them is
exposing himself to considerable dangers. Notwithstanding, at this international
conference we would like to put these matters in plain view and draw the
necessary conclusions, because that is the only way the situation is going to
change – which would be in the interest of us all..
At this very time, on the occasion of the Theodor Herzl centenary, we have to
address certain fundamental points which concern the essential basis of the
Jewish religion. The national celebrations here in Austria and in other
countries do tend to give the impression that Zionism can be equated with
Judaism, or at least can be seen as a legitimate political movement of Judaism.
In fact the opposite is the case!
Before we go into this matter further, however, we must first make it clear that
our critique is not a political critique – on the contrary, we are speaking
purely and solely from the point of view of our religion, of our faith. We are
advancing not political but religious reasons for our point of view – seeing
that, based on moral and religious principles, we basically distance ourselves
from politics.
The most important point which all Jews true to their faith share – and that
includes all the rabbis and chief rabbis assembled here today – is that we
have to bear the fate of the Diaspora which has been laid on us by God. This
important conviction of faith often meets with incomprehension among non-Jews,
so I will emphasize it again at this point: since we Jews accept in faith the
fate of the Diaspora laid on us by God, we endeavor to live without problems or
conflicts as loyal citizens of whatever state we find ourselves in. Whenever
there have been difficulties and conflicts over the many past centuries, our
chief rabbis have tried to come to a solution with the authorities on the basis
of submission, argument and heartfelt appeals for clemency. And this kind of
peaceful solution was in the great majority of cases actually brought about –
without any kind of provocation or political power games.
The problems began to grow and to become more serious after the so-called
"emancipation", when the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment made an impact
on Judaism, and certain Jewish groups hoped they might be able to achieve
political benefits. For millennia our community of faith in Germany has lived in
peaceful coexistence with the German people, and has enjoyed the latter’s
hospitality, with a large measure of freedom of religion. Even when the Zionist
reformed congregation started to persecute Jews who remained loyal to their
faith, the German people stood by our side. Consequently the German authorities
authorized my predecessor, Chief Rabbi Samsan Raffael Hirsch, to set up his own
Orthodox Jewish community of worship and allowed it all the necessary
privileges.
At this time Theodor Herzl traveled frequently to Germany, in order to turn
opinion against us in every way possible, even visiting the Kaiser, with the aim
of stirring up hatred against Judaism true to the Torah. On occasion he came up
against resistance. Nonetheless, Theodor Herzl deliberately encouraged
antisemitism through his activities, because he hoped this would encourage
European Jews to aspire to the establishment of a Jewish state. But in the last
resort, in this way he brought about the catastrophe of Judaism. Because the
Zionists wanted to bring the state of Israel into existence and encourage Jewish
emigration to Palestine, they did not even shrink from inciting and provoking
pogroms in Russia – however awful that sounds, ladies and gentlemen, there is
the evidence to prove it! In the same way the Zionists tried to provoke Hitler
and the German people by calling for boycotts and other political campaigns;
they welcomed the Nuremberg Laws, and did everything they could to whip up
antisemitism still further. So the Zionists must bear the essential blame for
the Holocaust.
We Orthodox Jews true to our faith did not have anything whatever to do with
these matters. We did not get involved with these provocations against Hitler
and the Third Reich. We did not take part in calls for boycotts or international
propaganda. Nonetheless it was we who became the real victims of the Holocaust.
Based on our faith and conviction, the Holocaust was God’s punishment of the
Jewish people, who had turned away from their faith to follow Zionism – even
though the main victims of this same Holocaust were the Orthodox Jews.
Unbelievable as it sounds, it is nonetheless incontestably true – our chief
rabbis even declared in Auschwitz that although we had rejected Zionism and
fought against it, we had done too little and with too few resources, for which
reason it was not without justification that God’s punishment fell upon us as
well. I know that such sentences can hardly any longer be understood in Europe
today. I know that such sentences will give rise to incomprehension and
head-shaking among many Europeans, because most Europeans do not in fact take
their own Christian faith seriously any longer. All the same, this is our
conviction in faith!
But the Zionists actually managed, after the war, to put themselves across as
the sole legitimate representatives of Judaism. Above all the occupation of
Germany and Austria made this possible. The results have been terrible! In the
name of Judaism – and we Jews true to our faith have really had nothing to do
with it – for decades now, massive pressure has been applied to the entire
political and economic development of Germany. Germany continues to be an
occupied country, the United Nations enemy state clause continues to apply to
Germany, which means that Germany is not a member of the UNO with equal rights!
It is an example of the inconceivable degradation of Germany that Mr. Michel
Friedman – my namesake, I am sorry to say – who is a morally dubious user of
cocaine and frequenter of prostitutes, has the opportunity of making moral
reproaches to the German people and setting them moral conditions – and all
this in the name of Judaism!
In Austria the situation is only slightly better. Here too Theodor Herzl is
presented as a great personality, although in truth he did monstrous damage to
Judaism, because he tried, against the will of God, to turn a purely spiritual
religion into a political power system – a power system which, like all
political power systems, has opponents and enemies and fights against them. The
Palestinians, the population of Palestine, must logically become the enemy of a
Zionist power system of this kind. The consequences of this – the war, the
intifada, the anti-Jewish terrorist attacks and the equally terrorist attacks of
the Israeli army on Palestinian leaders, with equal numbers of civilian deaths
– are matters with which we are all familiar.
As Jews true to our religion, we can never accept the doctrine of Dr. Theodor
Herzl. As Jews true to our religion, we are completely opposed to Zionism and
reject it. As Jews true to our religion, we see Zionism as a betrayal of God and
of the Jewish religion.
We Jews faithful to the Torah wish to continue living in peace with other
peoples in future, among the Germans as among the Arabs – we do not want to
blackmail any people or put any people under political pressure, but just to
have the possibility, wherever we are living, of worshiping God in peace.
Consequently we are starkly opposed to Zionist power politics. Thus we are also
starkly opposed to all attempts on the part of international so-called Jewish
organizations to put Germany and Austria under any political or financial
pressures. For the same reason, we deliberately avoid getting involved in the
internal affairs of the countries in which we are living.
When Dr. Martin Hohmann, a CDU member of the German parliament, saw people who
had fallen away from their faith – whether Bolsheviks or Nazis – as the real
criminals of the 20th century, we could only support his analysis. When boycotts
were launched against Austria in view of the blue-black government of some
federal states, we declared in public that we did not regard such interference
with the internal affairs of a country as legitimate, and that in our view the
Austrian people had every right to choose the government they wanted. On this
occasion we even put a big advertisement in the New York Times, at our own
expense, in which Jewish chief rabbis true to their faith from all over the
world lent their support to this point of view.
I hope, in speaking to this esteemed audience, that I have been successful in
making it clear to you that the Zionism of someone like Theodor Herzl has
nothing to do with the convictions of Jews who are genuinely true to their
religion. It is high time that the official representatives of the Republic of
Austria should also recognize that Judaism true to the Torah is represented by
us, and that they have someone else to talk to apart from the so-called
Israelite cult community.
Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, in this introduction I have already
touched on the main thorny issues which we hope to address at this international
conference of rabbis. I would like to extend a particular welcome to the
following speakers:
1) first of all Dr. Martin Hohmann, member of parliament of the Federal Republic
of Germany
2) the constitutional lawyer Professor Hans Klesatzky from Innsbruck
3) former federal minister Professor Erwin Lanc
4) Public Ombudsman Ewald Stadler
5) Professor Matschner
6) Federal Councilor Dr. John Gudenus
7) the lawyer Dr. Johannes Hübner
Palestine: Land Without People for
People Without Land? Part 2, Discourse 462
