In an event convened by the Workers Party (PT) in the House of Representatives, earlier this month, a scene drew attention: a rabbi climbed the podium to defend the end of the state of Israel. Yisroel Dovid Weiss, recently banned from entering Israel, is part of a Jewish ultra-portdox anti-Orthodox group called ‘Naturea Karta’, which became a darling of pro-Palestinian leftist movements and to a large extent, pro-Hamas. But who are they really?
The Naturei Karta are a Jewish fundamentalist group with relationships very close to Iran, often present in events of denial to the Holocaust and Pro-Palestin, and which, for religious reasons, reject the existence of the State of Israel. They are island in the Jewish environment for defending ideas not present in most of the community, such as “anti -joining”, and the retrograde belief related to women’s law and some visions about today’s society.
The reasons that lead the group to reject the idea of the state of Israel are 100% religious, unlike the growing pro-Palestinian movements-including in Brazil-which often have political and ideological motivations, some of which are considered recent as rejection of imperialism.
Naturei Karta believe that the creation of the State of Israel, regardless of the form or place, cannot come through man, but only the divine will. This is because, for them, Jews currently live under exile according to a biblical punishment.
The group is widely rejected by the Israeli population and government for allying with enemies that cry out for the destruction of the state of Israel. On the 7th, Israel’s Interior Minister Moshe Arbel permanently revoked the visa of Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss – the same one who was at the petista event – for meeting the Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, in Brazil.
The approaches between group members and Islamic Republic leaders are not recent. In 2006, the group was present at a conference in Tehran that questioned the existence of the Holocaust, and one of those present was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran who even said that the holocaust was a “myth.” In 2009, members of the movement were with Hamas leaders – among them, Ismail Haniyeh, one of the creators of the terrorist attack on October 7.
For expert, government approach with the group “shows how the president is more interested in allying against Israel”
For Daphne Klajman, an expert in anti -Semitism and academic coordinator of Hillel Rio, the government’s approach with the Jewish fundamentalist group considering this “as any kind of valid or representative group of the Jewish people shows how the president (Lula) is more interested in allying against Israel than in allying with his own local Jewish community.”
“We have seen since October 7 specific requests from the community of insecurity in the face of increased anti -Semitism. And the best response we have of the president is that anti -Semitism is victimism, which is not a real problem here in the country. Meanwhile he is bringing Jews to collaborate with his idea, but that at the same time support a part in part for funding October 7, a regime that creates nuclear weapons,” it says.
For her, this is “extremely worrying.” “Since the entry of this government, we have seen a very large approach to the Iranian regime with Brazil, Brazil’s diplomatic support to Iran, even in the face of active genocide attempts against Israel, with recent bombings, who have not targeted military targets, and rather civil, specifically trying to maximize the number of possible lows.”
Among the participants of the event was former minister and deputy Paulo Pimenta and Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss (of Chapéu). (Photo: Kayo Magalhães /Chamber of Deputies)She ratifies that the fundamentalist group is against the existence of the state of Israel “because it goes against what they believe religiously, it has nothing to do with social justice promoted by leftist movements.”
However, Daphne points out that “nowadays they find allies in these far left movements to take advantage of their cause and push what they believe in a religious way.” “But they are completely opposite in what they believe in social justice. […] They reject LGBT rights, do not believe in women’s equal rights, “he warns.
For the expert, the approach of progressive movements with Naturea Karta is “contradictory and hypocritical”. “Progressives say that they support various causes, minority rights, equality of peoples, but in the face of a group of religious fundamentalists with exactly 100% opposite values they believe – but they are also against Israel – there is okay,” he jokes. “It’s how progressive movements face approximations with this movement and even with Iran itself,” says Klajman.
