Separating Jews into Real and Not Real

Example 46: Separation of Jews by non-Jews into ‘real’ and ‘not real’ groups:

This form of antisemitism is one that is more often found on what is sometimes described as the ‘crank’ left than amongst neo-Nazis. Most on that part of the left are rarely willing to openly damn all Jewish people. Instead, they claim to be not antisemitic, but merely anti-Zionist. This can lead them in turn to emphasise the support not just of Jewish anti-Zionists, such as Tony Greenstein and Jewish Voice for Labour, but also of the tiny section of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community that rejects Israel not on political grounds, but on the basis that, since the Messiah has not yet come, the foundation of the state of Israel is in effect a blasphemy.

Although anti-Zionist attitudes are to be found in some larger ultra-Orthodox groups, the tiny Neturei Karta, which has only about 1500 members worldwide, is particularly fundamentalist on this question, so much so that they enthusiastically join pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They have even demonstrated in favour of Hungarian fascist and antisemitic party Jobbik, so are not natural allies of the left. Indeed, their views on matters such as women’s rights and tendency towards Holocaust revisionism makes even some extreme anti-Zionists wary of associating with them.

Some antisemitic people who identify with the left will then claim that NK are the true Jews, and that all those who do not regard Israel’s existence as blasphemy or a criminal act are fake Jews. They also tend to either exaggerate NK’s size, or try to make out that they are representative of opinion within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community as a whole, rather than being a tiny minority of ultra-Orthodox, let alone all Jews. Any attempt by non-Jews to portray NK as the real Jews, and the rest of the Jewish community as fake, is another very strong example of antisemitism in practice. It is for Jewish people themselves to decide who is and who is not a Jew.