Shock Horror - Jeremy Corbyn is accused of ‘nodding’ when a Rabbi said that Zionism and Judaism have nothing in common!!

The Pathetic Jewish Chronicle and Zionist Board of Deputies Tries to Restart the Fake ‘Anti-Semitism’ Campaign

As I predicted a few weeks ago, with Theresa May in increasing political difficulty, there will be fresh attempts to ignite the fake anti-Semitism allegations against Jeremy Corbyn.

Sure enough the Jewish Chronicle leads this week with an absolutely horrifying example of Corbyn Anti-Semitism. The article is entitled Jeremy Corbyn condemned after footage shows him appearing to agree with 'Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism' claim.  I think you will agree that this latest revelation should be the nail in the coffin of Corbyn.  It is so obviously anti-Semitic that it is difficult to understand why the Labour Party hasn’t arisen as one to demand his head.

My prediction of a few weeks ago

The Board of Deputies unsurprisingly

‘condemned Jeremy Corbyn after footage emerged of him nodding in agreement with the statement that "Zionism and the state of Israel has nothing to do with the religion Judaism".  

Even worse dear reader ‘Mr Corbyn also briefly applauded at the end of the speech.’ This really is the straw that broke the camel’s back. And it is no use saying that this happened 8 years ago. The fact is it happened. Anti-Semitism doesn’t lose its impact just because it occurred a decade or two ago.

I think even the fairest minded observer will agree that Corbyn’s behaviour makes him completely unfit to lead the Labour Party. This behaviour must conflict with most if not all the illustrations of the IHRA misdefinition of anti-Semitism which is designed to catch out bounders and cads who refuse to acknowledge that the Apartheid State of Israel is the physical embodiment of every Jews desire for liberation. I exclude from this a few self-haters and Jewish anti-Semites about whom no more will be said.

The Daily Mail which supported Hitler up to 1939 is terribly exercised by Corbyn's 'antisemitism'

Nor do I wish to hear about the usual litany of anti-Semites who support the ‘Jewish’ State of Israel from Steve Bannon, Bolsinaro of Brazil, Trump, Richard Spencer et al.  Zionism welcomes all support, except that of anti-Zionists! The fact that the Jewish ethno nationalist State of Israel attracts the support of anti-Semites who wish their own country to be a bit like Israel is should be a matter of rejoicing.

However in the interests of objectivity, I thought it would be good to look at the argument that Judaism and Zionism are two distinct entities.  Mind nothing I say is intended to exonerate Jeremy Corbyn in any way whatsoever.  Clearly he is one of the worst anti-Semites alive.  I am surprised that the US Simon Wiesenthall Centre recently voted Corbyn the world’s 4^th worst anti-Semite when it is clear that by threatening the very existence of the British Jewish community he deserved the top spot.  There was no justification for awarding the No. 1 slot to the Pittsburgh killer, Robert Bowers. He only killed 11 Jews.  Corbyn would wipe the whole lot out.

The founder of Political Zionism refused to have his own son, Hans circumcised

Why historically Orthodox Judaism was Bitterly Opposed to Zionism

The first Political Zionist was Theodor Herzl who founded the Zionist movement at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897.  The Congress was supposed to be in Munich Germany, but the Jewish population and the rabbis of Munich bitterly protested at this anti-Semitic gathering and the authorities were forced to ban it.

As Ha’aretz explained in 1897: The First Zionist Council Convenes

Basel was a second choice: Herzl had originally planned to “found” his state in Munich, a larger and more significant city than the quiet Swiss town ... It was the Jews of Munich — particularly the Orthodox and Reform leadership and those who were prominent in the city’s economic life — who were concerned that hosting the meeting would stir up trouble for them.

Hans Herzl ended his life as a Christian

Herzl’s own Chief Rabbi Morris Gudemann of Vienna disagreed with his protégé over the compatibility of Zionism and Judaism.  Which isn’t surprising as Herzl refused to have his son Hans circumcised, which is an essential ritual for male Jews. Only after his death did the Zionist leadership arrange his circumcision at the age of 15.  They needn’t have bothered since he converted to Christianity before killing himself at the age of 40. Allan Brownfield wrote that

The chief rabbi of Vienna, Mortiz Gudemann, denounced the mirage of Jewish nationalism. Belief in One God was the unifying factor for Jews, he declared, and Zionism was incompatible with Judaism's teachings. The Jewish Chronicle of London judged that the Zionist scheme's lack of a religious perspective rendered it "cold and comparatively uninviting." The executive of the Association of German Rabbis, representing the Jewish communities of Berlin, Frankfurt, Breslau, Halberstadt and Munich, denounced the "efforts of the so-called Zionists to create a Jewish National State in Palestine" as contrary to the "prophetic message of Judaism and the duty or every Jew to belong without reservation to the fatherland in which he lives . . ."

Herzl, before advocating Zionism had suggested that a solution to what was called the Jewish Question might be the mass conversion of Jews to Catholicism. As might be expected most Orthodox Jews were not enamoured of this. As the Jerusalem Post observed:

Herzl came to Zionism as a last resort, after concluding that abandoning Judaism altogether simply couldn’t work. (He first turned to international socialism and mass-conversion to Catholicism as possible solutions.)

Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler of Britain was an anti-Zionist

Indeed the Chief Rabbi of Britain, Hermann Adler was bitterly opposed to Zionism which he saw as a nationalist apostasy.  To Adler and other Orthodox Jews Zionism was a form of Jewish idolatory.  It substituted worship of a state and Jewish nationalism for the religion. In 1897 Adler termed political Zionism an "egregious blunder," Adler in a long speech about Zionism spoke about how

‘And if there be a group of enthusiasts who succeed in conquering Palestine by force of arms, or buying it up from its owners, we must not consider this to be even a glimmer of our future hope. This is the path that the leaders of the Jewish people received by tradition throughout history: only to wait, without taking any action."

The Orthodox also held that since God had exiled the Jews from Palestine it was not for man to defy God’s will.  This was the position of Agudat Yisrael, an anti-Zionist Orthodox group set up specifically to combat Zionism.  In 1924 their organiser, Jacob de Haan was murdered by the Zionist terror group Hagannah. Even today Agudat Yisrael, although it takes part in Israeli government coalitions, is formally non-Zionist. See THE GREAT GULF BETWEEN ZIONISM AND JUDAISM

In an excellent article in The Guardian of all places For Haredi Jews secular Zionism remains a religious heresy by Giles Fraser, in response to the claim in The Telegraph by the current Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis that Zionism was a ‘a noble and integral part of Judaism’ he wrote:

The walled neighbourhood of Mea Shearim is just a few minutes’ walk from the old city of Jerusalem. Built in 1874, it is home to Jerusalem’s Haredi or ultra-orthodox community – though that description is sometimes used as a term of abuse. The word Haredi is taken from the book of Isaiah and refers to those who tremble before God. A bit like the Quakers.

The Haredi regard themselves as no-compromise, Torah-faithful Jews, living out the word of God as best they can, until the coming of the messiah. The people who live here wear long black frock coats and broad-rimmed hats. Posters put up at the various entrances to the area demand modesty from visitors: long dresses and sleeves. Another poster declares: “No entry to Zionists”. Mea Shearim is home to some of the most fervently anti-Zionist Jews in the world.

It is clear that Ephraim Mirvis and his predecessor Jonathan Sacks are Zionists in a religious shell. Zionism was always a secular movement that believed that began from a racial not a religious base.  Herzl’s Deputy Max Nordau was quite explicit that Zionism was a question of race not religion. To Nordau the Jews were ‘a race of accursed beggars.’

Even Colin Shindler, an ardent Zionist advocate and Professor of Israel Studies at SOAS wrote in the Jewish Chronicle that in Britain:

Orthodoxy also had little time for Zionism. The Kamenitzer Maggid, a brilliant speaker for the Federation of Synagogues, regarded Herzl as a second Shabtai Zevi, the false messiah of the 17th century. Even the Lubavitcher Rebbe of the time announced that religion had been substituted by nationalism. "The Zionists," he argued, "had cast off the yoke of the Torah and mitzvot."

As the Times of Israel reported, the head of the Satmar Hassidic sect Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum 

‘accused his followers of increasingly admiring Israel for its military and political accomplishments, imploring them to maintain the Hasidic group’s hardline anti-Zionism.

Addressing thousands of Satmar members at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum lamented what he called a “tremendous and terrible spiritual decline” among his followers. …

 “We must yell gevalt, gevalt! To where have we come?” he declared. “We have no part in Zionism. We have no part in their wars. We have no part in the State of Israel.”

The Satmar, one of the largest Hasidic groups in the world, is staunchly anti-Zionist and does not recognize the State of Israel, maintaining a Jewish state should not exist until the Messiah appears.

“We’ll continue to fight God’s war against Zionism and all its aspects,” Teitelbaum said.Rabbis like Sacks and Mirvis are merely ignoramuses prostituting themselves to a nationalist heresy. If Corbyn nodded along with an anti-Zionist rabbi he was in good company!