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Jews burn Israeli flag in London
Tuesday 26th February 2002
By Soyeb Aswat
LONDON: Today was Purim, the Jewish Festival celebrating the victory of freedom
over oppression. On this day annually the Jews remember the oppressed and burn
the icons of their oppressors as a symbolic destruction of their evil. At present, the
orthodox Jewish community believe the state of Israel to be the most prominent
oppressor in the world and, in recognition of this, they burn the zionist flag at
locations around the world.
In mid-afternoon in front of a quiet row of shops in Stamford Hill in North London,
and in the middle of one of the worlds largest Jewish communities outside of Israel,
the London chapter of Neturei Karta International, a Jewish organisation who oppose
Zionism and the state of Israel, hosted Londons flag burning event. A group of
around twenty Jews in their traditional dress of long black coats, wooly Russian style
hats, and sporting long beards and the signatory locks of hair down each side side of
their faces gathered to perform this annual ritual. These people were undeniably
Jewish, and yet were getting into a frenzy over what was about to happen.
Purim is celebrated on the day that Hayman from the tribe of Amalek was defeated.
The Amaleks aim was the destruction of the Jewish people and annually the Jews
continue their fight against the contemporary incarnation of the tribe of Amalek.
Burning the flag of any nation is illegal in Britain so it was interesting to see the
police in attendance. They looked on without emotion, only there to make sure that
things didn't escalate any further than simply the burning of the flag itself.
Two members of the crowd lay the Zionist flag on the ground and doused it with
petrol. Two others raised it up on long sticks before lighting it. Bright flames rose as
the crowd cheered and danced around the fire. The burning of the flag was a
symbol that the Zionist state would not be tolerated and, like the flag, should be
destroyed.
Though there were two press photographers present at the event, one had to be
asked to attend from the local newspaper, there was a strange lack of media interest
in this event. NKI have been complaining about the medias lack of reporting on
these and other anti-Zionist events where attendance can reach tens of thousands in
some instances. They cite this as an example of the Zionist influence within the
media, and another form of oppression.
As the flag burned a Jewish man walked amongst the on-lookers excitedly handing
out a leaflet from the organisers about the event and saying, "see, this proves that
Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. They are not the same thing."
Orthodox Jewry have opposed Zionism since its inception as a non-religious
movement. Rabbi Beck of NKI when asked what basis there was to Zionist
nationalism responded "In truth they (Zionists) had no basis and they themselves
said that they were originating something new. Were it not for certain elements of the
religious community that attempted through various devious means to confuse the
minds of people it would have been clear that it was completely baseless as far as
authentic Jewish sources were concerned."
There are many Jews opposed to Zionism, and like the NKI, participate in peaceful
protests, and work with members of other Jewish and non-Jewish organisations in
the hope of seeing an end to the state of Israel.
Story and photo links:
http://soyeb.homeip.net/Palestine/index.html
http://www.netureikarta.org
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