This short pamphlet is based on a series of interviews with Rabbi Yosef Goldstein of the Neturei Karta anti-Zionist sect (1) at his home in Stamford Hill, (2) London, between Sunday, April 10 and Thursday, October 27, 1994. Rabbi Goldstein is the PR man in the UK for Neturei Karta. Neturei Karta, literally the Guardians of the City, regard themselves as the pure, undiluted essence of Judaism. Dressing in the fashion of their 17th Century Polish ancestors, they eschew television as an abomination, don’t shake hands with women, and observe the Sabbath with the fervour of the zealot.
One might be tempted to think that the likes of Neturei Karta are primitive and superstitious in relation to the modern secular Jew. Not one bit! The Orthodox are learned men, not only in the narrow field of Talmudic study, but in secular learning. Certainly they are wise to the activities of their ugly cousins in the Zionist movement. Here, Rabbi Goldstein explains the position of the real Jews, the men in caftans and black hats, (and their womenfolk, of course). He differentiates between Judaism and Zionism, exposing the latter as a cancer which has been used by nationalistic zealots to indoctrinate Diaspora Jewry. The Rabbi also explains how Zionism wilfully ferments anti-Semitism, and how the real conspiracy is not a conspiracy by the Jews but against them.
Following the February 1994 Hebron massacre in which the Zionist fanatic Dr Barukh Goldstein murdered twenty-nine people at the Ibrahimi Mosque, (3) Rabbi Goldstein organised a demonstration in Central London against both the atrocity and the idea behind it (ie Zionism). This did not go down at all well with Organised Jewry, but the following week an untypically fair report appeared in the Jewish Chronicle.
We don’t agree with everything Rabbi Goldstein says, but we present his views here verbatim in order to restore a semblance of objectivity and plain, old-fashioned honesty to the debate over the Jewish Question, to counteract the constant whining and wailing of the Zionists, and to differentiate between the benign (if at times odd) religion of Judaism, and the quasi-fascistic political philosophy of Zionism. We have added copious notes of our own.
The text has been edited, but only minimally, and some of the conversation has been transposed; this has been done solely to facilitate reader comprehension and to make it more readable. We cover a lot of ground here which the Rabbi and myself have discussed at various times in telephone conversations. Again, notes have been added to facilitate reader comprehension; footnotes and notes in square brackets should be read in full.
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