Being Jewish does NOT Equate Being Zionist

For my crisis management class I had to complete a "crisis vulnerability assessment" for an organization of my choice. This assessment consists of all possible internal and external opportunities and threats to the organization and the potential crises that stem from them. I chose to do my crisis vulnerability assessment for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known by the acronym AIPAC. This organization is the largest pro-Israel lobby in the United States. This organization is my ideal employer because I hold the same missions to advocate on Israel's behalf.

While preparing my assessment, I discovered a very interesting external threat. AIPAC annualy hosts a Policy Conference consisting of many political leaders, diplomats, advocates, etc. At this conference there are always opposition groups rioting outside of the Washington Conference Center, in Washington D.C. Of course when an organization is pro-Israel there are absolutely going to confront opposition groups. However, I was astonished to find a particular group called Neturei Karta, which protest this policy campaign every year. This is a group of orthodox Jews that are anti-Zionist, meaning against the existence of Israel.

After learning about this group, I had to learn more. I knew that there are factions of orthodox Jews, even living in Israel, that are anti-Zionist but I never knew the ideology and network of support behind this movement. Neturei Karta was founded in Jerusalem in 1938. On the organization's homepage it is described as "a group of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem who refused (and still refuse) to recognize the existence or authority of the so-called 'State of Israel' and made (and still make) a point of publicly demonstrating their position, the position of the Torah and authentic unadulterated Judaism." Below is a picture of one such demonstration, that is also displayed on the organization's homepage.

Many members of the organization left Israel, what they consider Palestine, because of their opposition to living under the Israeli government. The group puts it as "being exiled by the Zionist government for [our]insistence of remaining independent of the illegitimate heretical regime."

While I certainly understand that being Jewish does not make someone Zionist, and vice-versa, the words utilized in these messages sound much more like propaganda than anything else. Words like exile, regime, herecy are strong words that make the message over-dramatized and uncredible - in my view. Additionally there are bolded phrases on the homepage, statements like: 

"Neturei Karta oppose the so-called 'State of Israel' not because it operates secularly, but because the entire concept of a sovereign Jewish state is contrary to Jewish Law."

"The true Jews remain faithful to Jewish belief and are not contaminated with Zionism."

"The world must know that the Zionists have illegitimately seized the name Israel and have no right to speak in the name of the Jewish people!"

Although I have an opposing view to that of the Neturei Karta, I am still deaply fascinated by this group and others like it. There passion and aggression is so interesting. I admire that the group takes a position and advocates strongly on its behalf. I think their method of propaganda is a bit extreme, and to me seems ineffective. Yet, this is a position I never knew about and am eager to learn more about.