If Something Seems Odd It Probably Is

And the #1 Thing You Can Do to be an Ally This Week

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Everyone has been tokenizing fringe Jewish voices for a while. It’s nothing new - but nonetheless exhausting.

Passionate anti-Israel Jews are plucked from the protests to speak for us all, while Kahanist celebrities are celebrated as the queens of the pro-Israel hasbara movement. All of it is embarrassing and mostly the fault of the media who live to illustrate a story that represents the farthest fanatical thinking on both sides of an extremist spectrum.

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Of all the tokenizing and uplifting of fringe voices, there is nothing that boils my blood more than Neturei Karta – more broadly known as the anti-Israel Orthodox. While folks on TikTok love to “listen to this rabbi!” and “the most devout orthodox are marching!” us into mind-bending combustion, it might be worth knowing who you are platforming.

Neturei Karta is an anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine Haredi Jewish group that believes the Messiah will usher in a Jewish theocracy to rule over the Land of Israel, and that the restoration of the Land of Israel to the Jews should only happen with the coming of the Messiah, not by self-determination. The group is relatively small, with membership in the low thousands.

From ADL: The group’s participation in a “Holocaust Review” conference in Tehran in December 2006, which was attended by a host of international Holocaust deniers, demonstrated the group’s willingness to meet with the vilest of extremists. In 2012, leaders of Neturei Karta met with highranking Hezbollah officials on at least two occasions. In March, several NK leaders participated in a “Global March to Jerusalem” and laid a wreath at the tomb of Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mugniyeh.

In short, Neturei Karta is a very small, very problematic group that wants to “free Palestine” so that Palestinians can be *checks notes* removed by the Messiah. It’s a lot like the extreme evangelical Christians who want to protect Israel at all costs so that Jews can all die in the rapture!

I guess my point is: be mindful of who you are hanging with and uplifting. If something seems odd or out of place, it’s OK to question it. The way extremism works is by refusing to challenge any contradictory information and doubling down on your belief at literally any cost.

I can see this now within some members of my own community riding for Netanyahu at all costs, even going so far as to quote Mair Kahane. But when thousands of Israelis are taking to the streets to protest their own government and nearly every former hostage and their families are speaking out about returning to war, we need to be conscious of who we are listening to. 70% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign. These people are the Zionists we should be uplifting - the Israeli people who have more skin in the game than you or I.

It’s unfortunate that the protests around the world couldn’t take a page from them and simply protest the government and not the existence of the state and its people. While I still would have been deeply pissed at the refusal to blame Hamas - who, even now, is still the party that instigated the ceasefire break by refusing to return the remaining hostages - my fellow Jews and I are not blind to Netanyahu’s part in this nightmare. We never have been. We have been horrified by him and his right-wing sycophants for years. And we know that he has been putting Israel’s democracy at stake since well before 10/7.

And the great irony of it all? Netanyahu must be stopped from turning Israel into what its detractors believe it is. All of the things we know are true and all of the things we know are lies - it could all go to shit if these people stay in power.

And, no, boycotting a hummus brand won’t bring about the change you seek. Nor would breaking an international alliance and empowering terrorist regimes who seek to destroy the Western world.

Netanyahu can only be stopped by his own voters, and the only thing we, as diaspora Jews, can do is uplift their voices.

To love your country is to want Democracy - to want your people to thrive. Millions of people are protesting the Trump administration. And they are no less American than his supporters (some would argue moreso). But no matter how shit things get in this nation - and to be clear, things ain’t great right now - no one should ever face bigotry for being an American. Or Chinese. Or Russian.

And it’s wild that so many Americans can understand that, and want a better America, but will target Israelis at a Cleveland airport and refuse to serve coffee to random Jews.

Because, if that seems odd to you, well, it should. It is abnormal and should be unacceptable. But no one is talking about it but us. And maybe it’s because you really aren’t seeing it on the news. Or you only see it from me or some other random Jewish friend of yours. Or because Ilana Glazer said it was OK? I don’t know.

Anyway, if you can do ONE THING to be an ally, here is our ask:

October 8 is playing at a theatre near you. Please make it a point to go see it. Bring a friend. Post about it. Our best ally right now is information being spread by reliable voices. You can be that voice.