The Madness of Neturei Karta and Jobbik

Jobbik leader - Vona Gabor addresses a Nuremburg style rally

 The Idiocy of Being Seen to Support Jobbik - the Hungarian Fascist Party

It was bad enough when Neturei Karta, a Hasidic sect which rejects Zionism on  Orthodox Jewish religious principles, decided to send representatives to Ahmedinajad’s Holocaust conference in Tehran.  That could just about be excused by saying they had gone there to argue against holocaust denial.

Their demonstration in January 2014 in support of Jobbik, the Hungarian fascist party, which is the third largest party in the Hungarian Parliament was worse. 

Indeed they complained that the BBC had wrongly portrayed them as demonstrating in opposition to Jobbik!

As the Economist noted in Odd Jobbik ‘Jobbik doesn't merely march in a military manner it has conscientiously and diligently adopted all the words and symbolism of the Arrow Cross in WWII and has attempted to revise our understanding of that vile, murderous movement even while promising to repeat its actions.’   The fact that Jobbik, whose principle target is Hungary’s Roma population, proclaims support for the Palestinians is irrelevant.  It is viciously racist and anti-Semitic.  It is in a minority amongst far-right parties in Europe, since most of them are pro-Zionist. 

Neturei Karta complaint to the BBC that they were unfairly portrayed as demonstrating against Jobbik!

The Arrow Cross/Nyilas murdered up to 50,000 Jews in Budapest when they were put in power by the Nazis on 15^th October 1944 after Horthy was overthrown, for agreeing to surrender to the Soviet Union.

Neturei Karta demonstration  in support of Jobbik

NK represent a right-wing anti-Zionism, in so far as it can be called anti-Zionism at all.  Their opposition is not political but religious.  Zionist proclamations against Jobbik can be taken with a pinch of salt given their alliance and work with fascist MEPs Michal Kaminski of Poland and Robert Zile of Latvia’s LNNK and the links they have with for example the English Defence League.  We understand their hypocrisy but that is no reason for us to follow suit.  We expect Zionist organisations to work with fascists and the far-Right.  They have always done so and always will do so.  But we should never tolerate such an approach.

Neturei Karta rabbis meet with Jobbik

For NK to associate with the successor party to these butchers of Hungarian Jewry is incomprehensible.  The Arrow Cross murdered Orthodox and non-Orthdox Jews.  It made no distinction.  For an organisation that claims Rabbi Michael Weissmandel  as its own, someone who regardless of the mistakes he made, was a Jewish hero of the holocaust is incomprehensible.

Below is the correspondence I had with Rabbi Beck of Neturei Karta regarding this issue.

Tony Greenstein

On 12 October 2015

Dear NK,

I learnt that Neturei karta held a demonstration against the actions of Zionist organisations vs the Hungarian fascist party, Jobbik. 

I am not a Zionist, anything but. However I find it incomprehensible that you could be seen to support Jobbik, the direct descendants of Arrow Cross, who murdered at least 50,000 Jews in Budapest just before the Soviets liberated Budapest. These animals are insupportable and for you to lend comfort to those who welcomed the holocaust is to trample on the memory of Rabbi Weissmandel.

I would welcome an explanation for this and a statement that a terrible mistake was made that won't be repeated.

Tony

Neturei Karta International

Dear Tony

I answer to your question we do not “support” Jobbik at whole, but sins the Zionists lead a big propaganda campaign against Jobbik (which is a big and popular party in Hungary) because of their support to the Palestinians, and by doing so the Zionists have brought Anti-Semitism to Hungary where many Jews live, and until recently have lived peacefully, They are bringing over the catastrophe from the Middle-East to the peaceful Europe. That’s why we come, - not in support of Jobbik, - but just to bring out the truth that the Jewish people have no issue with them, and the state of Israel doesn’t represent Jews and nor do their actions.

If one should always look at a situation a bit dipper, beneath the surface, If someone hits a dog with a stick, the dog who has no intellect bites the stick, as it doesn’t occur to him that the stick is just a tool in the hand of the master, but a person who is hit by a stick will attack the person who hit him, the same thing is in our situation, one who only looks at the result of Zionist activities against Palestinians in the name of Jews, namely, the assault of Jews in and outside of Israel in revenge, (or this Jobbik slamming Israel), will automatically go against the attacker and see him as an anti-Semite and deem one who sympathises with him as a supporter of Anti-Semitism, but we are looking for the real way out of this catastrophic situation according to the Torah and understand that the Zionism is the root of this problem and that we cannot stand by and see how the Jewish people are used as the shield of the Zionists against their will, we must come out and reveal the truth in order to bring peace between the 2 innocent parties and channel the feelings of outcry and frustration against those who are genuinely behind this ongoing tragedy.

By the way, to the best of our knowledge, Jobbik has no connection to the arrow-cross, and is not Anti-Semitic, one shouldn’t just believe what other people say, one should make a proper study on this topic.

And If indeed they would be Anti-Semites, this will only doubles our obligation to do what we can, to make sure that the actions of the state of Israel are not associated with the Jewish people, and that the Hungarian Jews are not against him or disloyal to Hungary, which is the main thing which angers Jobbik in the first place.

Because of the fact that a few Jewish MP’s in Hungary also had Israeli passports, which he found to be unacceptable and deem them untrustworthy, “jobbik” stated that “there should be made a list of all Jewish MP’s with Israeli passports”, and the Zionists publicized that he said that there should be made a list of all Jews in Hungary like the Nazis. 

We are not involved in Jobbiks politics, only involved in trying to stop the Zionist actions from bringing calamity to Jews and a defilement of the name of G-d and his Torah.

Yours sincerely

Rabbi E Beck

Brighton UK, -- GB

Dear Rabbi Beck,

Thank you for your response.  I cannot however accept the logic of your argument as to why Neturei Karta demonstrated, in January 2014, in support of Jobbik and against attacks made on them.  We only need to see how Jobbik portrayed your actions. Orthodox Rabbis stand for Jobbik in London

Of course I accept that the Zionists’ reason for opposing Jobbik is because of their purported support for the Palestinians and their opposition to ‘Zionism’.  In reality Jobbik’s ‘support’ for the Palestinians is more about their hostility to Jewish people and seeking to tar them with the crimes of Israel.  The fact that Israel also wishes to associate Jews in Hungary and elsewhere with its crimes is no reason to be seen to support Jobbik.

Zionism has not brought anti-Semitism to Hungary even though they are happy to exploit it.  Jobbik and its brand of racism and anti-Semitism is but the opposite side of the same coin as Zionism.  To prefer one in opposition to the other is to concede to both and to oppose neither.

I must confess I don’t understand your dog and stick analogy.  I suspect if you were to hit a dog with a stick it might well bite you as well as the stick!  But if you want to try it out with a tiger at the local zoo please let me know the results. 

Jobbik is quite independently, an anti-Semitic and fascist party.  It is vehemently racist and anti-Roma in particular.  It doesn’t need Israel to be anti-Semitic just as its predecessor, the Arrow Cross, didn’t need Palestine to murder Jews and socialists.

I recommend an article on Csanad Szegedi, the Jobbik MEP who discovered he was Jewish and the reaction of Jobbik to his revelation. ‘Metamorphosis: A HungarianExtremist Explores His Jewish Roots’

When a statue of Miklos Horthy, who presided over the deportations of over 430,000 Jews to Auschwitz, was unveiled in Budapest in December 2013, a Jobbik MP Márton Gyöngyösi, declared Horthy to be "the greatest statesmen of the 20th century". 

Aviva Stahl, a Jewish anti-Zionist described how Gyongyosi also proposed that the authorities "tally up people of Jewish ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government", explaining that they "pose a national security risk to Hungary". 

Zionism usually allies itself with the far-Right in Europe, whether it is Geert Wilder’s Freedom Party or Michal Kaminski’s Polish Law & Justice Party, to name but two.  In the case of Hungary they are nominally opposed to Jobbik.  If Jobbik were pro-Zionist then the Zionists would say nothing.  We however do not take our position from the Zionists, simply replacing a negative with a positive.  Our position should remain consistent.  Opposition to fascist and raciat parties regardless of their professed attitude to Jews.

I cannot accept that what ‘angers’ Jobbik is the disloyalty of Hungarian Jews, their opposition to Jobbik or indeed their possession of Israeli passports.  This was how Oswald Moseley of the British Union of Fascists, explained their anti-Semitism. Jobbik’s anti-Semitism comes from their overall politics.  Israel of course urges Diaspora Jews that they should support Israel first and foremost, thus fostering the idea of dual loyalty.  This is what their accusation of being a ‘Jewish traitor’ means.  However this is not the cause of Jobbik’s anti-Semitism.  You mistake symptom for cause.  

Jobbik’s politics are formed on the basis of hostility to the outsider and the Other – be it the Roma, who were also the victims of the holocaust or refugees.  The attitude that we can assuage their hostility to Jews by assuring them that Jews do not oppose them is deeply mistaken, unprincipled and wrong.

If there is one lesson to be learnt from the second world war and the Iron Cross/Nyilas it is to oppose fascism wherever it raises its head.  Zionism has always determined its attitude by what is best for Israel having never fought fascism or anti-Semitism.  You make the same judgement substituting Jews for Israel or Zionism.  You are an advocate of appeasement in much the same way as Rabbi Weissmandel sought to appease the Nazis with his Europa Plan.  Therein lies the difference between socialist and religious opposition to Zionism and racism.

For the elucidation of others I will include this correspondence on my blog.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Greenstein