Any weblog that treats religion seriously gets my vote and Bartholomew's notes on religion is one of the best. But I was disappointed to read his treatment of the faithful Jewish sect Neturei Karta's appearance at Iran's International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust. (If I were Jewish, I would ally myself with the Neturei Karta (NK), who believe that G-d's covenant with the Jewish people compels them to remain in Exile until the Messiah returns. NK views the Israeli state as theologically illegitimate, which it is.) Bart repeats Zionist propaganda by referring to the event as "Ahmadinejad’s recent Holocaust denial “conference”", which it wasn't: Zionist ideologues, however, believe, and would have us all believe if we let them, that either you're with us or you're an anti-semitic Holocaust denier, as if there wasn't a whole world of opinion between those two extremes - I fall within them, as did the conference, as does Ahmadinejad. Bartholomew, seemingly, is an extremist on this crucial issue.
He quotes approvingly, from an AP article, the denunciations of Neturei Karta by "other religious anti-Zionists". The leader of 'Eida Haredit' is quoted, and his organization is described by AP as both "anti-Zionist" and "based in Israel", terms which would appear to contradict each other. The group in fact describes itself as 'non-Zionist', whatever that means, and its leaders have received honours from the Zionist state. Also quoted are the Satmars, a sui generis Jewish cult centred on the Teitelbaum family - although their revered rabbi Joel Teitelbaum preached against Zionism, his inheritors happily visit, live in, retire to and die in Israel, so, again, their anti-Zionist credentials are dubious. Neither group really deserves the label ultra-Orthodox, unlike Neturei Karta.
Bart goes on to imply, as the MSM does, that Ahmadinejad is a 'Holocaust denier', which is to do him and the truth a disservice. Mahmoud's provocative questioning of what people, especially in the West, believe about the Holocaust and how that impacts upon global - especially Middle Eastern - affairs today, deeply discomforts the Zionist zealots, and they respond by demonizing the man. And now that Neturei Karta's prophetic witness to the Jews is getting more publicity, due to its recent attendance in Tehran, it's NK's turn to be demonized. And yet, from a religious and theological standpoint, which one might have hoped Bart would have presented, Neturei Karta is, on the big question, right and the Zionists are mistaken.
Bart really loses the plot by quoting the murky, spooky, to-be-avoided-at-all-costs 'anti-fascist' Searchlight magazine. As Wikipedia reports:
While Searchlight is, unsurprisingly, subject to great hostility from the far right, its relationship with some left-wing anti-fascists is also extremely poor. Red Action accused them of secretly entering Anti-Fascist Action in order to "manipulate, destabilise and subvert" the group. [3]
An anarchist magazine claimed that "[founding editor Gerry] Gable has been passing information to Special Branch, MI5, and foreign [i.e. Israeli, US] security services for 20 years; acted as a conduit for misinformation and 'black' propaganda between MI5 and the media (aimed in at least one case in affecting the course of criminal proceedings against fellow journalists); and concealed the existence and activities of at least one Special Branch or MI5 infiltrator inside left-wing groups." [4]
One has to go to unpleasant far-right websites (e.g., here; here) to discover some of Searchlight's, and Gerry Gable's, links to Israeli and Zionist agencies, but they exist deeply. If Searchlight is now shining its beam on Neturei Karta, that's interesting - Israel is obviously spooked by NK's commitment to speaking theological truth to its secular power, understandably so. But Searchlight would be the last place I'd go for illumination on anti-Zionist Jewish groups such as the NK.
Suggestion to Bartholomew: more theology, less ideology.
[See related entry: Holocaust is the wrong word (2005.01.28)]
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