Jewish Anti-Zionism

Before the 1940s, the majority of the world's Jews were non-Zionist. Many Orthodox Jews of that time objected to any creation of a Jewish state in Palestine before the arrival of the Jewish messiah. Other 19th century and early 20th century, Orthodox Jews objected to Zionism because they rejected secular and atheist attempts to build a secular and socialist Jewish state in Palestine. No one though rejected the right of any individual Jew to move to the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael).

In the 19th and early 20th century, for example, Reform Jews of Germany used the word Zionism to refer to a political and social movement which encouraged them to emigrate to Palestine. Reform Jews did not reject the right of Jews to move to Palestine. Many of them rejected the view that they themselves had an obligation to do so.

Before the 1930s, many of Western European and American Jews, took the view that since Jews could live in conditions of safety and freedom in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, there was no need for a Jewish state, and that for Jews to campaign for one would be harmful because it would create the impression that Jews were not loyal to the countries in which they lived. Many Jews also felt that the Jewish "mission" had evolved to become universalistic and identified themselves as citizens of their country who happened to practice the Jewish faith.

Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, Zionism remained a minority view among the Jewish people.

Many Jews, however, continue to oppose Zionism and the State of Israel on religious grounds. Among more mainstream Orthodox groups the most significant anti-Zionist group would be the Satmar Hasidism, possibly the largest Hasidic group in the world, with over 100,000 followers, along with other Hasidic groups which are influenced by Satmar and revere the group's late leader, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, as an authority figure. Teitelbaum's book, VaYoel Moshe, is an exposition of one Orthodox position on Zionism, based on a literal form of midrash (biblical interpretation). A somewhat more vocal of these is the Neturei Karta group.

According to Rabbi Teitelbaum, God and the Jewish people exchanged three oaths at the time of the Jews' exile from ancient Israel:

This was the position of the Orthodox world until the Holocaust. Today, many Orthodox Jews, including the Agudat Israel party, which has participated in most of Israel's coalition governments, accept the validity of these oaths, but have reached a modus vivendi with the State of Israel. They base this position as a result of the "facts on the ground", with the State of Israel an existing entity.

Opposition to the existence of Israel among secular Jews is confined to a minority of socialist (such as The bund) or other radical Jews in western countries. Most of these do not argue that the Jewish settlement of Palestine should be reversed or that Israel should be destroyed by force. Rather they argue that Israel as a specifically Jewish state should be replaced by a secular state in which Jews and Arabs live together.

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