On Wednesday, December 3rd, an interesting meeting was held at the State University of Milan with Rabbi Dovid Feldman of New York, who was passing through Milan after participating in the pro-Palestine demonstration in Genoa on Friday, November 28th, and in the one in Rome on Saturday, November 29th, always wearing a keffiyeh around his neck.

Unfortunately, the timeframe for obtaining authorization from the University for the event was too short, and the organizers, Professors Antonio Violante and Alessandro Corti, opted to hold the meeting in front of the University anyway. Several dozen people were present, and many curious passers-by stopped to listen.

Rabbi Dovid Feldman belongs to the Neturei Karta International movement, an Orthodox Jewish religious group that rejects the authority and very existence of the State of Israel, based on its interpretation of Judaism and the Torah. Its followers, concentrated primarily in Jerusalem, number approximately 5,000, and are also present in New York, London, and Canada. Despite its small size, the Neturei Karta has exerted considerable influence in debates on the relationship between Judaism and Zionism.

Its members do not trade in Israeli banknotes, do not join the Jewish State’s army reserve, something that is mandatory for adult Israeli citizens, do not sing the national anthem, do not celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, and do not pray at Judaism’s holiest site: the Western Wall. They maintain relations with the Palestinian leadership and the Arab world and challenge Zionists’ exploitation of the Holocaust.

The movement was founded in 1938 in Jerusalem by Jews belonging to the ancient Orthodox community that had settled in Palestine for many generations. The most radical anti-Zionists gathered around the Neturei Karta. According to them, the land now occupied by the State of Israel belonged to those who had inhabited it for centuries: Arabs, regardless of their religious denomination, and Jews who lived in Palestinian lands before the colonization.

Rabbi Feldman delivered his calm and lucid speech in English. It seemed incredible to hear such an authoritative and clear Jewish voice defining the current state of affairs and the State of Israel’s responsibility in the genocide of the Palestinian people, calling its actions criminal.

The rabbi insisted on distinguishing the concepts of Judaism and Zionism, going so far as to say: “Zionism is forbidden by the Jewish religion. The Creator of the world sent us into exile and forbade us to leave that exile by our own human power. Leaving exile alone would be a rebellion against God, and therefore Jews who believe in God cannot support Zionism. This is even more true in light of the fact that the Zionist project was undertaken at the expense of many innocent people and involved the theft of their land and property, the murder of many of them, and the expulsion of others through no fault of their own.”

The rabbi also listed the various dangers of equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, calling it a crime against the truth because it creates the false impression that Jews and Zionism are one and the same. This is a desecration of God’s name, as it implies that Jews have rebelled against God. Furthermore, this same notion leads people to misdirect their political opposition to the crimes of the State of Israel toward all Jews worldwide.

The labeling of anti-Semitic actually risks unleashing anti-Semitism by attempting to silence Palestinian grievances, causing a boomerang effect and leading many to label all Jews as Zionists.

In conclusion, the rabbi states, attributing the term anti-Semitic to those who oppose Zionism and the State of Israel is wrong and criminal.

Voices like this should be able to resonate everywhere to bring clarity and justice to the confusion and injustice that pervades debates and our relationships.

Also present was the young Councillor of Municipality 1, Lorenzo Pacini, who expressed solidarity and truly courageous positions regarding the Palestinian plight and the Zionist question, in clear contrast to the opinions and statements of his colleagues.

A moving encounter for the clarity, purity, morality, and humanity that this religious figure brought and conveyed.