Fringe ultra-Orthodox sect mourns Israel Independence Day
Unlike most of the ultra-Orthodox, who tacitly accept Israel and its governing institutions, this small extremist group openly commemorates Israel's independence as a day of grief.
It is the same every year. "Pashkevils," (polemical posters) devised by the extremist Neturei Karta group leadership are distributed throughout ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods on the eve of Israel's Independence Day. Their text calls on “God-fearing Jews” to take to the streets and demonstrate throughout the city.
“The Jewish people in the Holy Land and the Diaspora mourn bitterly over the 66 years of existence of the Zionist state, rebelling against God and his Torah. They pray for its speedy end, Amen!"
"On Tuesday, we will don sackcloth and cry out loudly and bitterly, declaring to the entire world that the Jewish people are loyal to God and His Torah, and that we have neither part nor parcel in the heretics’ government!”
But despite all the noise and propaganda, hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews do not buy into the slogans that have been recycled again and again for the past 60 decades. The pashkevils distributed on the eve of “their festivals” (Neturei Karta members like to refer to the Israeli Independence Day with a term from the Talmud for the holidays of the gentiles), are greeted with apathy at best. The average ultra-Orthodox Jew generally disapproves of this incitement campaign. He is fed up with the provocative style of the Neturei Karta demonstrations in the name of their “holy war” against Zionism and its leaders. The greatest proof of this is the recent protest against the IDF’s plans to draft the ultra-Orthodox. In contrast to the Neturei Karta demonstrations, the gathering of hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox culminated in a quiet, yet incredibly powerful prayer.
