NEW YORK, United States — Orthodox Rabbi Dovid Feldman, member of Jews United Against Zionism, has told Rudaw that the state of Israel doesn’t represent the beliefs of the Jewish people.
In a interview in the Orthodox hub of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Feldman said the views of the Jewish community on Israel are often generalised.
“Most of the people have no idea what is truly behind the state of Israel. What is the true opinion of the masses of Jewish people worldwide? So many people think that all Jews support Israel in its entirety and this is totally wrong,” he said.
He also added that God did promise The Holy Land to the Jewish people but on certain conditions, which he said were not fulfilled and led to the exile of the community.
Political mobilisation among the community was also opposed by religious leaders during the onset of Zionism, according to the rabbi.
“This would be considered heretical without any crimes tied to it. But when this happened in Palestine by oppressing people by killing, stealing from them expelling them from their lands, this is just adding many additional crimes to this movment. It's a violation of Judaism,” said Feldman.
He also criticized Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu for claiming to speak on behalf of all Jewish people.
“The Zionist movement is acting in the name of all Jews and Benjamin Netanyahu stands up and claims that his state is a Jewish state representing all Jews, representing myself, representing my communities and representing all Jews in other parts of the world. This is unfair,” said Feldman.
Feldman spoke about the solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict and says Jewish scholars should be consulted on the issue.
“If we want to find a solution to the problem, if we want to be true to God and to Judaism, we have to sit down with the Jewish scholars and work out what solution would be approved by our religion."
“Oppressing other people is anti-Jewish. I say this all the time because my grandparents suffered in the Holocaust and I don't want to see other people suffer. I would do everything I could to prevent any human beings from suffering,” he added.
