The 130 Year Record of Religious Jewish Opposition to Zionism

Rabbi Dovid Baharan of Jerusalem,
(d. 1946)

רבי דור בהר " ן זצ " ל מגדולי ירושלים

We must separate completely from the Nationalist Council, from the Zionists and from their organizations and institutions. We must not join forces with them in any way, for then we would be destroying the holy Torah, G-d forbid.

Fight hard and be strong in the battle against the Zionists and the Nationalist Council, which has risen up against us and against the holy Torah. We must especially fight their latest sins, in which they take precious souls, refugee children from Poland or Yemen, orphaned of both father and mother, and force them to abandon their faith. Wage a bold war with them, and G-d forbid to come to an agreement with them. (Hachomah, 1 Sivan 5704)

Rabbi Ahron Roth,
Shomer Emunim Rebbe (1894-1946)

רבי אהרן ראטה זצ"ל אדמו " ר משומרי אמונים

A festive meal was held to celebrate the completion of a Torah scroll in memory of the Jews killed in the Holocaust. All the Chassidic rebbes and heads of yeshivas attended, including the Rebbe. He sat down at the table opposite the Zionist chief rabbi [Herzog]. He asked others who this man was, and they replied that it was the Zionist chief rabbi. The Rebbe immediately stood up from his place and left the hall.

On the way home, he said, “I did not want to sit at the meal together with him.” One of the Chassidim commented that this chief rabbi was somewhat better than his predecessor, but the Rebbe said angrily, “I don't want to hear any praises of him. If he is with them, it is forbidden to speak positively of him.”

Once the Rebbe was taking a walk in the field and his Chassidim wanted to bring him a chair to sit on and rest. But the Rebbe refused, preferring to sit down on a rock. “I don't want to sit on something that the wicked Zionists made,” he said. “I would like to sit on a place that these wicked people did not yet touch and defile.”

He scrupulously avoided any words that came from the Zionist language, modern Hebrew. Once he was at an engagement meal and was honored with reading the engagement contract aloud. The contract said that the bride's side promised to give "rehitim" (furniture). When the Rebbe reached this word, he stopped reading and said, "This is a Zionist word!

Although we find the word used in the Bible (Song of Songs 1:17), it has not been used for a long time, and so whoever uses it today is using it because of the influence of modern Hebrew!" (Furthermore, the original meaning of the word was beams or bolts, not furniture).

Then he tore up the document and told them to rewrite it. "But what word should we use for 'furniture'?" they asked. He replied that they should use the Yiddish word "mebbel." (Mishkenos Haro'im, p. 743)

It is a temporary settlement that will not be successful in the end, for soon we will see the fulfilment of “to dump the wicked out of the land”. (Az Nidberu, p. 77)

The Rebbe always spoke strongly against coming close to the wicked, saying that we must have no connection with them and stay as far from them as possible. At the end of his life he said often that it is a miracle that these wicked people do not command us to put on tefillin, for if they were to pass such a law, it would almost be forbidden to put on tefillin, since we must always do the opposite of what they do. (Preface to Shomer Emunim)

Rabbi Ben Zion Chazan,
Sephardic rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem

רבי בן ציון חזן זצ"ל ירושלים

On May 28, 1948, during the Zionist war of independence, as the battle in and around Jerusalem raged, the two rabbis of the Old City, Ashkenazic Rabbi Velvel Mintzberg and Sephardic Rabbi Ben Zion Chazan boldly went out to the Jordanian army carrying the white flag, showing that the true Jewish people were surrendering to them.

When the Zionists saw this act, which they saw as treachery and denial of their doctrine of fighting their way out of exile, they wanted to kill the rabbis, and they fired at them with their guns.

Thank G-d, they missed. Later they considered putting the rabbis on trial, but seeing that such a trial would bring no honor to Zionism, they abandoned the idea. (Kol Demei Achicha Tzoakim, issue 6 p. 4)

Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter,
Rebbe of Gur, Poland (1866-1948)

רבי אברהם מרדכי אלתר זצ"ל אדמו " ר מגור

When I walked in the streets of Jerusalem, in places where Arabs with their camels walked about, in almost every place I came they cleared the way for me respectfully. If only we were treated half as well by the gentiles in all the lands where Jews live! It is my opinion that we can remain on good terms with them and live there peacefully and safely. (Letter written in 1921)

Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky,
rabbi of Jerusalem (1867-1948)

רבי יוסף צבי ד ושינסקיא זצ " ל גאב " ד ירושלים

In the year 1902 the greatest rabbis of our country [Hungary] saw the damage caused by the heretical views of the Zionists, and they forbade any Jew in the country to join them or the Mizrachists. (Responsa Maharitz 1:93)

Orthodox Jewry has not the slightest intention of subjugating any section of the population of the Holy Land. We merely ask that the gates of Palestine be opened to all those Jews who have no home and enable them to live here Jewish lives in accordance with the commandments of the L-rd.

However in order to avoid the continuation of the untenable position as set out in the last paragraph of section 4 we suggest that the keys of Jewish immigration be placed into the hands of the Government of this country...

We furthermore wish to express our definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. (Declaration before the United Nations, July 16, 1947)

The Jewish Orthodox community (Eidah Hacharedis) of Jerusalem, comprising 60,000 souls, objects to the idea of including Jerusalem in the Jewish state and/or its residents automatically becoming citizens of the Jewish state.

Our community requests that Jerusalem be an international zone, under your protection, with full autonomy, and its residents be free citizens of the international zone of Jerusalem.

Chief Rabbi J. Z. Dushinsky in the name of the Ashkenazic Community (Letter to the United Nations, November 18, 1947)

Unfortunately, we have already seen what the Zionists do... in particular, it is well-known that all their activities are against the wishes of the government officials, under whom we live in peace. If we are silent now, we will have sinned. We have always fulfilled the words of the prophet,

Therefore we call out to you, our Jewish brethren: G-d forbid for you to join them! Stay united and then all will live in peace. (Announcement poster, 1924)

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn,
Lubavitcher Rebbe (1880-1950)

רבי י וסף יצחק שניאורסאהן זצ " ל אדמו " ר מליובאוויטש

The straight-thinking Jew looks on in astonishment, thinking: what do these rebels against G-d and His Torah have to do with the Land of Israel? (Mishmeres Chomoseinu 20 Shvat 5716)

I hereby join with the honored rabbis who oppose and protest against Mizrachi and the like. They do not walk in the spirit of the Torah. I wish to convey in writing that the Jewish people should separate themselves from this terrible desecration. Let the defiled leave the face of the Holy Land! (Om Ani Chomah, 5709 ch. 4 p. 400)

It is forbidden for us to join the Zionists (Open letter to the Agudah, Tikun Olam ch. 34)

Rabbi Yaakov Yechezkel Greenwald,
Rebbe of Pupa, Hungary

רבי יעקב יחזקי ' גרינוואלד זצ " ל אב " ד ור " מ פאפא

Even in the Holy Land, we see the fulfilment of the verse,

For the group calling itself “Zionists” has become powerful there, a group that our rabbis of blessed memory warned us to keep as far as possible away from, for their foundation is heresy.

The most bitter exile is when we are in exile under heretical Jews who deny the holy Torah, as we see in this generation under the group called “Zionists”. (Vayaged Yaakov, p. 441)

Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis,
rabbi of Jerusalem (d. 1953)

רבי זעליג ראובן בענגיס זצ"ל אב " ד ירושלים

We have already spoken about these nationalists. They are a recently-founded group with the purpose of fooling the people and leading the masses astray, thinking that they can settle the Holy Land by natural means and attain sovereignty over it.

They are mistaken and they are swindlers, and their plan will not succeed. (Liflagos Reuven, Drashos, Chanukah 5672, p. 331)

Rabbi Amram Blau refused to hold Zionist coins, and Rabbi Zelig Reuven Bengis spat on Zionist currency. (Gilyon Ho'emunah, Bamidbar, Sivan 5742, issue 6)

Rabbi Avraham Yishaya Karelitz,
author of Chazon Ish (1878-1953)

רבי אברהם ישעי' קארעליץ זצ"ל החזון איש

When news of the destruction of European Jewry arrived, and it seemed that it might be possible to save some Jews by working together with the Zionist Agency, the foremost religious rescue workers asked the Chazon Ish what to do. He responded, “The reason we save lives is because that is G-d's command.

If we neglect an opportunity to save lives, we will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment. But in this case, if they ask you on the Day of Judgment why you did not save lives and you reply that it would not have been possible except by working together with the Zionists, and one may not work together with the Zionists – I am certain that they will accept your answer!” (Om Ani Chomah, 23 Menachem Av 5723)

On Zionist independence day in the last year of the Chazon Ish's life, he was honored to officiate at three different ritual circumcision ceremonies. Still, he requested that the Tachanun (a prayer that is omitted on festive occasions) be said, lest someone come later on and testify, "The Chazon Ish did not say Tachanun on independence day," without revealing the circumstances. He once said, "It would have been proper to declare the fifth of Iyar a public fast day." (Safah Ha'ivris, p. 20)

He once said: "One clear day they will open the windows and they will see 'no more State'." (ibid.)

He did not obtain a State Identification Card. And when the regime took a census, he refused to register, saying, "I am from the people of Jerusalem" (meaning the observant Jews of Jerusalem who refused to be counted). (ibid.)

At the beginning of the State, the municipality of Bnei Brak wanted to hang a Zionist flag on his house and he refused. When he was told he would have to pay a fine because of his refusal, he answered, "It's worth it, it's worth it." (ibid.)

Rabbi Mordechai Chaim Slonimer,
Slonimer Rebbe of Tiberias, Palestine

רבי מרדכי חיים מסלא נ ים זצ " ל אדמו " ר מסלאנים

After the declaration of the state, a number of the greatest rabbis met to discuss the situation. In his speech, the Rebbe told everyone: Whoever is on G-d's side, come to us! Whoever does not want to be killed physically and spiritually, whoever does not want to be drawn after heresy, whoever recognizes and knows that the state itself is a fundamental uprooting of the Torah, besides the laws and decrees they pass against Torah law – let him be inscribed in the list of those who refuse to recognize their state.

By registering everyone in a list, the power of G-d and His Torah will be strengthened. People of faith will be gathered, one by one, and they will with G-d's help become a strong force. (Teshuah Beyisroel, p. 32)

The Zionists, who induce others to sin, are careful never to mention the name of G-d in their official papers. Regarding them Scripture says,

They hired for themselves rabbis who speak about the subject of the Land of Israel, and their entire goal is to found a new government which would deny the Torah of Israel. (Om Ani Chomah, 26 Elul 5711)

Let not your kindness and tolerance lead you to forget the acts of these wicked people, who have already done so much harm. This is why the Torah warns us to erase the memory of Amalek and not to forget what Amalek did. There is no better example of Amalek's deeds than this: a community that rebels against G-d's kingdom, and now they make efforts to capture an earthly kingdom. What more do they have to do?

Therefore I do not simply tell you to desist [from joining the Zionists], but to take action using any ways and means available, as you would do if enemies attacked you with the sword. We must make known to the government that the Zionists are not the representatives of the Jews.

We must also publicize among the Jews their evil deeds, such as murder and immoral behavior. May G-d give us wisdom and sagacity in finding the right way to separate from them, and this will spell their end...

All this lengthy writing was for the purpose of proving the great importance of the fighting and opposition that we must encourage. (Mara D'ara Yisroel, end of v. 2)

This [Knesset] building is a house of sinful lawmaking. To our great pain, it has become a place of horrifying blasphemy. They stand up against G-d and his messiah. Just to hear it makes our soul weep. Our Sages have said (Talmud, Tractate Shabbath 116b),

Truly, at a time like this we must sanctify G-d's name whenever we can, and at least protest against these sinners. We must show the whole world that the Jewish people is faithful to its G-d, and we have nothing to do with these who conspire against the King of the World and uproot his Torah.

May G-d repair our breaches and the breaches of His people with mercy, so that we not stumble or be caught in their trap, G-d protect us. Signed: Mordechai Chaim Slonim, Avraham Yitzchok Kahn, Mordechai Harris.

Rabbi Yosef Shmuel Rabinow,
rabbi of London, England

רבי יוסף שמואל ראבינוב זצ ” ל

רבה של קהילת החרדיות בלונדון

It is forbidden to join efforts with the wicked in any way. The state is a true catastrophe. (Om Ani Chomah, 11 Menachem Av 5713)

Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch,
head of the yeshiva of Telz, Cleveland, USA (d. 1955)

רבי אליהו מאיר בלאך זצ " ל ר אש ישיבת ט עלז

The blood of our father [Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch] flows in our arteries – blood that he spilled for all of his life for the sake of his battle against the idol of Zionism... The Torah position and the clear law is that we must not support Zionism or recognize the idolatry...

No yeshiva has yet produced students who were truly G-d-fearing unless its leaders were sharply and staunchly opposed to recognizing the wicked and the wickedness of the Zionists. Thank G-d, among all the staff of the yeshivos of Poland and Lithuania, there was not even one rabbi who supported the Mizrachi.

We must also remember this: that the Yeshiva, wherever it may be, is the life work of my father of righteous memory. If any influential person here disagrees with my father's ruling that “Zionism is a disease, and anyone who is drawn after it will not escape punishment” (Shiurei Daas) then it is an insult to my father's honor.

In the place where that righteous man dedicated his life to battle against Zionism, we will not allow anyone of a foreign spirit who disagrees with him to draw near. (Letter)

Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandl,
head of the yeshiva of Nitra, New York (1903-1957)

רבי מיכאל בער ווייסמאנדעל זצ"ל אב " ד נייטרא

The only solution is:

• a) to raise a public call to unseat the [Zionist] statesmen from their positions of leadership and
• b) to give up on the demand for a Jewish state.

We must pray to G-d to remove the bitter Zionist heresy from the world.

Let it be clearly understood that never in Jewish history (even in the time of Jeroboam or Achav) have such hostile atheists stood at the helm of the Jewish people as today.

How can we plead to the Almighty for mercy while we tolerate these vile, wicked leaders as spokesmen! Beloved brothers - let us cleanse our ranks and cleanse our midst. Let us cast out any Zionist influence from our heads. Let us entreat the Almighty through prayer, repentance, and fulfillment of mitzvos that He alone redeem us, immediately. (Poster, 1948)

At the time of the establishment of the Zionist state in 1948, Rabbi Weissmandl travelled several times to Washington to express his opposition to it.

These men with their plans have insulted and angered and embittered the Arabs, who had lived peacefully and quietly with the Jews for many generations. (Mi Nosson Yisroel Levozezim)

Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik,
rabbi of Brisk, Poland (1887-1959)

רבי יצחק זאב ס אלאווייציק זצ " ל אב " ד בריסק -הגרי " ז

All his life he was an enemy of the Zionists. While he was rabbi in the city of Brisk, he persecuted the Zionists forcefully, and at times he suffered from their hatred of him. When he crossed the border into Palestine and the officials handed him some papers to sign, he noticed at the top of one of the papers the heading, “The Jewish Agency”.

He refused to sign that paper. This was at the height of World War II, and he had come to Palestine to save his life. Normally people are not so particular about what they do at such times, as long as their life is secure – but the rabbi of Brisk refused to sign. (Om Ani Chomah 5719, p. 331)

Once someone told the Brisker Rabbi that some yeshiva student had gone to watch the Zionist independence day parade. He became angry and said, "If the Nazi S. S. officers had a parade, would they go to watch that too? Don't our Sages say that one who causes another to sin is worse than one who kills him?" (Uvdos Vehanhagos Leveis Brisk, v. 4 p. 210)

Maimonides writes that the messiah will bring the Jewish people out from under the rule of the nations. Whoever believes there can be a redemption from the rule of the nations without the messiah, is lacking complete faith in the coming of the messiah. (Yalkut Divrei Torah)

During the siege of Jerusalem in 1948, when food and water were limited, the Neturei Karta held its famous protest calling for a ceasefire (which the Zionist writers dubbed “the white flag parade”). Needless to say, the Brisker Rabbi was the man who urged the heads of the religious community to undertake this protest. He wanted thousands of men, women and children to participate, but unfortunately only the men of Neturei Karta hearkened to his voice.

Later, when the heads of several yeshivas came to discuss the difficult situation, which was worsening every day, he spoke to them sharply and said, “Where were you when the Neturei Karta put out their first posters?” He was referring to the poster against a Jewish state, published after the United Nations decision in November 1947. (Om Ani Chomah, 5619, p. 331)

Rabbi Shimon Yisroel Posen,
Rebbe of Shopron, Hungary

רבי שמעון ישראל פאזען ז צ " ל אב " ד ואדמו " ר משאפראן

I am happy to see that you understand well that we must distance ourselves from the entire mistake that has, unfortunately, become prevalent since the day that, unfortunately, the defiled Zionist state was founded. It is truly idolatry and complete heresy. (Toras Alef, v. 4 ch. 30)

Whoever believes in or admires this state of heretics even the slightest bit, is a heretic like them. Anyone who wants it to continue existing, even in the inner chambers of his heart, even if he does not make this known to others, or derives secret pleasure from the existence of this state, is a believer in idolatry.

This should definitely be spoken of in public all the time, so that the masses who do not understand this on their own should not forget about it. We must not allow them to become dull with time, G-d forbid, and be drawn after all the noise made by the priests of this idolatry. (Toras Alef, v. 4 ch. 31 par. 7)

Rabbi Yishaya Asher Zelig Margolios,
Jerusalem

רבי ישעי ' אשר זע ל יג מרגליות זצ " ל ירושלים

Unfortunately, Satan was victorious and he founded a state of hell. (Or Zarua Latzadik, p. 19)

As a young man, Rabbi Margolios lived in an apartment in the Knesses neighborhood. Outside his window was a wheat field owned by an Arab named Abbad, who lived nearby. He was on good terms with the religious Jewish residents, and served as their “Sabbath gentile”: when the Jews needed to warm up milk for a sick person on the Sabbath, Abbad would warm it up.

[Note: since it is forbidden for religious Jews to do any work or cook on Sabbath, they utilize the "“Sabbath gentile”, or “Sabbath Goy" (Shabes Goy) - non-Jew to do any work that needs to be done.]

When the light went out in their kerosene lamp, the Jews would call Abbad, and he knew what to do; no one had to tell him. After the Sabbath they would give him a small loaf of challah bread as a gift of appreciation.

One Sabbath in 1929, the Zionist settlers attacked Abbad's house. They knocked on his door, planning to murder him and his wife. The Zionist mob called Rabbi Margolios to help them. Rabbi Margolios knocked on Abbad's door, and as soon as he opened it he threw his Hasidic fur hat and caftan on the Arab and walked with him to the synagogue. The Zionists, not knowing which was the Arab and which was the Jew, abandoned the area. (Azamer Bishvachin, p. 11)

Rabbi Chaim Yosef Dinkels

רבי חיים יוסף דינקלי ס זצ " ל

Before the War, the rabbi once had to spend Simchas Torah in a town in which the custom was that every person who was called up to say the blessing over the Torah donated money to the Zionist “Jewish National Fund”. So he did not go to the synagogue at all.

He prayed privately and did not dance with the Torah, so that he should have no partnership with Satan. (Gilyon Ho'emunah Menachem Av 5777, issue 16)

Rabbi Avraham Kalmanovitz,
founder of Mir Yeshiva of Brooklyn, USA (1891-1961)

רבי אברהם קאלמאנאוויטש זצ " ל אב " ד ראקאוו

It is forbidden to participate at all in the Zionist government, whether in the coalition or the opposition. (Kulmus Halev, p. 202)

Rabbi Pinchas Epstein,
rabbi of Jerusalem (d. 1970)

רבי פנחס עפשטיין זצ"ל אב " ד ירו שלים

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky,
Skverer Rebbe, New York (1900-1968)

רבי יעקב יוסף טווערסקי זצ"ל אדמו " ר מסקווירא

He would fast on the day the Zionist state was established. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 858)

Rabbi Yechezkel Mertz
New York (d. 1970)

רבי יחזקאלע מערץ זצ " ל

His opposition to the accursed Zionism was well-known. His opposition to Agudath Israel was also very strong. Similarly, he despised and detested the modern Hebrew language, and he could not stand to hear even one word of modern Hebrew.

Rabbi Dovid Jungreis,
member of the court of the independent rabbinate of Jerusalem (d. 1971)

רבי דוד יונגרייז זצ"ל דיין בבי " ד דהעדה החרדית

From the day the state was established, his heart was broken within him, and whenever he spoke about it he would melt into tears over the fact that the Holy Land was delivered into the hands of wicked men who lead Jews away from their Father in heaven.

Rabbi Amram Blau,
leader of Neturei Karta, Jerusalem (1900-1974)

רבי עמרם בלויא זצ " ל רבן של נטרי קרתא

Religious Jewry hates Zionism more than all its enemies. (Toras Rabbi Amram, ch. 22)

In all of Jewish history and in all the words of the Sages, there is no parallel to be found to these heretics, rebels, inducers to sin and enemies of the Jewish people. (Om Ani Chomah 5709, ch. 187, p. 230)

He said: A Jew must want the state to be null and dismantled, even if he is in the state at the time. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 908)

In the name of humanity, justice and righteousness, we appeal to you not to forsake us and not to make us subservient to an authority whose principles and practices violate all that we have been taught to hold sacred and to cherish, and whose avowed intention is to undermine our religious existence. In general, therefore, we ask you to deliver us from Zionist domination in whatever manner you may deem to be fitting.

Appeal to the United Nations

Our appeal to the United Nations therefore takes the following form:

It is well-known that Jews lived in Palestine among the Arabs in peace. The Arabs bore no ill will toward the Jewish settlement as it grew and spread. The Arabs were pleased with this growth, and they gladly sold land to the Jews.

The Arab people expressed no opposition to Jewish immigration or to the sale of land to Jews. We lived as neighbors with the Arabs without any fear. The Arabs had full trust in the Jews, and many times we saw that they preferred doing business with Jews to doing business with their own people. (Letter to Eliezer Neuberger)

Rabbi Moshe Yitzchok, "Itzikel" Gewirtzman
Rebbe of Pshevorsk, Poland (1881-1976)

רבי משה יצחק געווירצמאן זצ " ל אדמו " ר רבי איציקיל מפשעוואר ס ק

When he sent a letter to the Holy Land, he would write the address himself, and he would write it using the gentile alphabet, not the Hebrew alphabet. Once in his later years, when he did not have the strength, he wrote a letter and asked his attendant to address it for him.

The attendant wrote it using Hebrew letters. When the Rebbe saw this, he said, “Jewish?! Are they Jews?! Is it a Jewish state?!” He took the envelope and tore it up, and he took another envelope and wrote the address himself with the gentile alphabet.

He would not touch the currency of the Zionist state. When someone put some Zionist currency on his table, he would push it off with his elbow. When he had wine made by the Lipshitz company, on Friday afternoon he would peel off the Star of David from the label. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 946)

Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum,
Rebbe of Satmar, Hungary, later rabbi of Palestine (1887-1979)

רבי יואל טייטלבוים זצ " ל אדמו " ר ואב " ד ס אטמאר

If we were to put all the sins of this generation and all the transgressions committed in the entire world on one side of a scale, and the Zionist state on the other side, it would outweigh everything, for it is the poisonous source of the worst defilement, the worst cause of damage in the entire world, and they are ones who defile the entire world. (Vayoel Moshe, Introduction, p. 11)

Unfortunately, today Zionism is the source of defilement. Since the creation of the world, there has not been such a source of defilement, may G-d protect us. They have killed and brought the entire world to apostasy and killings, and brought the Jewish people to destruction. (Chiddushei Torah, Lech Lecha 5716)

Woe is to us! How much blood dripped from the righteous rabbis of yesteryear over the Zionists, who have now taken power for themselves! Woe to us, how much pain and how much blood ran from the truly righteous when they suffered from that organization, knowing what it could become! (Chiddushei Torah, Beshalach 5715)

Those Jews living in the Land of Israel need G-d's help to be saved from that group who are called “Zionists” but whose true name and essence is heresy and denial of the Torah. (Drashos, Pinchas p. 150)

With bitterness of spirit, I ask you: Please, my brethren, do not sin by going to these defiled [Israeli] elections. And in the merit of those who never bowed to the Baal, may G-d have mercy on us and bring us out of this terrifying darkness to light. (Vayoel Moshe 1:141)

Regarding the prohibition on the elections, after much study and consideration I have reached the legal conclusion that their Knesset is a place of heresy, idolatry, immorality and murder; and anyone who joins it is a partner in everything they do. Whoever appoints an agent to go there is also sinning, for a person's agent is like the person himself...

In my opinion, there is no greater sin than this in our time. My clear conclusion, reached after a long time of study, is that voting is forbidden and one must put his life on the line for this. (Drashos, Matos Masei p. 160)

One cannot imagine the severity of the sin of those who rejoice or express happiness on the terrible day of insult that they call “Independence Day”, established by those insulters of G-d. They stood up against G-d and His messiah to establish a heretical government over the Jewish people, uprooting Torah and faith...

This is much worse than professing belief in an idol, for these people are not just professing belief; they are rejoicing in this terrible rebellion against G-d and His holy Torah. (Vayoel Moshe 2:157)

There is no doubt that any house that contains the slightest trace of the Zionist flag is forbidden to enter, for it is a haven for the forces of spiritual defilement, a resting place of Lilith, a temple of heresy – the heretical flag testifies to it. May Hashem protect us from them and their masses.

If someone feels, G-d forbid, even a little joy in his heart at the sight of the heretical flag which is antithetical to Torah – it indicates that he is completely cut off from the source of holiness.

Woe to us that such a thing has happened in our time: that there are people calling themselves Jews who are joyful over the flag that is against the will of the Creator. (Divrei Yoel, Bamidbar p. 102)

The Rebbe ruled that one should not respond to the Kaddish or Kedushah prayers in a room where a Zionist flag is present. (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 996)

In our generation this is the greatest sin, and if a rabbi stands up to rebuke the Jewish people but fails to mention this sin, not only is he not improving the situation but he is making it worse. For when they do not mention this great destruction and sin, people conclude that they consent to it, and there is no greater sin than this. (Chiddushei Torah, Bamidbar p. 42)

The Jewish people has greatly neglected its responsibilities in this last generation, and the Zionists and secularists have been allowed to spread and take leadership. Slowly but surely, they have slipped the reins of leadership to themselves. In every place they have pushed themselves to become the Jewish leaders.

The reason they succeeded is because the Torah scholars did not want to waste time on worldly matters; they made their entire life goal to study Torah and serve G-d, not noticing that the Zionists were taking all public matters into their own hands.

This continued to the point where we suddenly saw that the Zionists dared to speak in the name of the entire Jewish people, as if they were the Jewish people. Naturally, they have succeeded to a large degree in sullying the name of the Jewish people in the eyes of the gentiles, falsifying its true face, as if the Jewish people were a secular nation like all the other nations. (Drasha, 5718)

There is an obligation to cry out with a loud and bitter cry in the streets against this desecration of G-d and His holy Torah on a level unequalled in Jewish history. (Vayoel Moshe 1:113)

We must make all efforts to make known to all the nations that the Zionists are not the representatives of the Jewish people, and that observant Jews have no connection with them. We must make this known even at the risk of our lives. (Kinus Haklali 5721)

It is an obligation upon every person and community to protest and cry out in any way he can, and to do anything in his power for the sake of the honor of G-d, which has been desecrated by the Zionists. One must respond at all times and in all places...

What did Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai do at that terrible time when the zealots forced their own rule over the Jews in opposition to the Romans? He made whatever efforts he could, and with the agreement of the other sages he went out to the Romans to save the remnant of the Jewish people in the Holy Land...

We have already established that it is a holy obligation to declare our faith... Everyone is legally obligated to do as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakai did... and to cry out in protest against the brazen sins of the Zionists.

We must let everyone know that the Zionists are not the Jewish people; they are the destroyers of the vineyard of G-d. The true Jewish people are those who keep and live by G-d's Torah. The true and holy Jewish people are not responsible for the evil deeds of all the Zionists and secularists of all stripes.

When confronted with this scene of heresy and permissiveness, we are commanded to proclaim in the streets the connection between the Jewish people, G-d and the holy Torah, in order to lessen somewhat the embarrassment of the Zionists' desecration of G-d's name...

Not long ago the Zionist leader declared before all the delegates of the nations of the world that the Jewish people has no connection with the holy Torah, G-d forbid. There is no greater desecration of G-d's name than this, and it is certainly a holy obligation to announce before those same gentiles that the Zionists do not speak for the Jewish people. The Jewish people is holy and the holy Torah is our life and the length of our days. (Drasha, 5718)

It is because of the Zionists that six million Jews were killed. The fact is that this is the bitter punishment stipulated in the Talmud.... which results in the payment of a spiritual and physical debt from the Jewish people. Afflictions and tribulations only appear in this world because of the wicked, and the punishment is meted out first upon the righteous.

However the Zionists have committed horrible actions; that they have always slandered and spoken libellously against the Jewish people to other nations, and have even incited non-Jewish leaders against the Jewish people to convince them to expel Jews from their countries. The Zionists believed that this strategy would make it easier to take over the Holy Land and establish their State there.

We see from letters written by great rabbis in the early days of Zionism how great was their deathly fear of the consequences of the slander and libel of the Zionists; unfortunately their fears were realized.

In addition to this, facts have come to light regarding the extent of the cruelties committed by Zionist organizations that resulted in the whole dreadful catastrophe. Some of these activities that took place in Hungary came to light as well in court cases that later occurred in the Holy Land. The Zionists undertook a number of explicit actions that they believed would assist them in meeting their objectives in the creation of a state.

It is not my intention to discuss this subject at length in this book because I am writing it solely for the purpose of clarifying Jewish law as it pertains to the establishment of a state. However, I mention these events to point out the fact that it is only this abominable idea of establishing a state that has caused all the hardships, sufferings and misfortunes that have befallen us, aside from the fact of countless Jews who have died because of the Zionist wars that are forbidden by Jewish law. (Vayoel Moshe 1:110)

The majority of Jews from Arab countries who have come to the Zionist state had resided in peace and tranquility, lacking nothing, until the establishment of the heretical regime, that is, the Zionist state, which has been the original cause of hatred and persecution in their native countries.

The Zionists themselves made this all possible with various tricks and ruses in order to increase the persecution so that the Jews living in Arab lands would have to move to the Holy Land utterly penniless.

Then the Zionists bragged about being the “saviors” of these Jews, although the Zionists themselves were the initial cause of all this upheaval. (ibid.)

The Zionists constantly boast that the only place of refuge on earth for Jews is their state. However, anyone with a brain in his head can see that it was because of the Zionists that the doors of other countries were shut to the Jews. This is because the Zionists always exert every effort to prevent Jews from going anywhere else other than to their own state.

Any person who takes even the slightest action of offering Jews the possibility of finding refuge in any other country to fulfil the statement of our Sages in the Talmud (Tractate Pesachim, p. 87) that “G-d did an act of charity to disperse the Jews among the nations” faces savage attacks of all kinds from the Zionists, who hurl all types of insults, slander and curses, claiming that such a person is a self-hating Jew who hates the Holy Land.

Moreover, Zionist officials and ministers fan out all over the world, attending banquets with world officials to convince them to refuse to allow their nation to serve as lands of refuge for Jews, and on the contrary, implore them to coercively redirect these Jews to the Zionist state, in violation of the oath prohibiting mass immigration to the Holy Land as explained by the Talmudic sages.

The Zionists coerce most of those Jews who have arrived in the Zionist State into heresy and apostasy, and the children of these Jews are defiled in dreadful ways. These “immigrants” continue to suffer poverty and enormous destitution.

All the Zionists care about is that they should have a strong state with a huge pool of available soldiers for their army and other coercive organizations and activities.

These Zionist evildoers used their G-d-given free will to choose evil, arrogance and heresy, and have been the cause of all the suffering and tribulations to the Jewish People, to assure that Jews find no peace and respite in any country, and work to assure that the doors of the nations are shut.

Furthermore, nations can claim that they do not have to offer refuge to Jews because the Jews now have their own state where they can seek refuge. The Zionists, who are viewed by the nations as the leaders of the Jewish People, demand that Jews not go anywhere other than to their state.

However, it is obvious that were it not for the Zionist state, the Biblical promise to our Patriarch Jacob that his descendants would always find refuge and solace would be fulfilled. The Zionists declare that only they are the “saviors” of the Jewish People; just two years ago [1956] they boasted that they were “rescuing” refugees from Egypt, despite the fact that it was the Zionists themselves who caused all the suffering and expulsions, as is the case in all their activities. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

While the British government still controlled Palestine, the Zionists' efforts to establish a state were the direct reason why the British chose to close the doors of Palestine to prevent a large influx of Jews.

Anyone who remembers how these events unfolded knows for a fact that were it not for the Zionists with their heretical ideas of establishing a state, the doors of the Holy Land itself would have remained open to Jewish refugees, and many Jews would have been saved.

During Turkish rule in the Holy Land, the gates of the Land were closed to Jews because the Turks feared Zionist immigration... This is all merely the tip of the iceberg concerning the tribulations and suffering that has befallen the Jewish people because of them. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

In my youth I heard an important rabbi offer a fitting parable about the Zionists: Once there was an evil and cruel man who was vengeful and constantly on alert. He wanted to take revenge against his friend, and burn all his and wealth and possessions. So he hired a second wicked person who was an expert in these sorts of operations to do his task in such a way that the victim would not even notice that it was he who had committed this act.

Since the hired criminal knew that his victim often welcomed guests into his home, he went to the victim's home in the evening disguised as a guest and asked for a place to spend the night. The unwitting victim welcomed him in immediately and gave him a room for the night.

In the middle of the night the wicked man observed that the householder and his family members were all asleep and that they would not notice anything. He silently set about to start a fire in a hidden area and then quickly returned to his room and pretended to be asleep.

The flames soon became noticeable and awakened the entire household in great panic; everyone soon realized that everything was on fire, but due to their confusion, panic and sorrow, the members of the family could not properly decide how to save their property.

In order to avoid suspicion the wicked guest, who had caused the fire, pretended to wake up in great panic and rushed to the aid of the householder, who noticed that the guest was able to calmly do a good job to save more furniture and household objects than the householder himself.

The following morning, when the householder went to the synagogue with a heavy and bitter spirit, he told his friends about the terrible calamity that had befallen him. He explained that he was now left impoverished and destitute, and that he had no idea where to look for a new home and livelihood.

While telling the story he mentioned the importance of the commandment of welcoming guests, because the guest he had invited into his home had helped save what little could be rescued from the fire in his home. The victim of the arsonist was asked by his friends to identify the guest. He described him, and they immediately recognized him as a very cruel and wicked man who was renowned for these sorts of deeds.

His friends mocked him and told him to watch himself, because were it not for that “guest,” there would have been no fire at all. The “guest” was actually an arsonist who had set fire to the house, and was no savior at all.

They added that the householder should never again allow that evildoer to cross his threshold, for if he should ever again have anything to do with that evildoer, his tricks would be even worse, and could result in the death of the householder altogether, G-d forbid.

The lesson of this parable is obvious: through their sins and their deeds the Zionists are the cause of all troubles and sufferings, yet they always come around to brag that they are the saviors when they are actually the arsonists! Those that do not wish to seek the truth fall for the ruse and think that they are saviors.

Satan blinds their eyes so that they end up in heresy and atheism, G-d forbid. By analyzing all the activities of the Zionists one can easily discover that their acts are utter destruction and no salvation. It would require a book specifically dedicated to this subject, and I have already written that in this book I do not wish to get into this history, only to shed light on the matter. G-d will guide those who seek the truth.

This is the last challenge of the Jewish exile, the hardest challenge the Jewish people have ever faced. Regarding these tribulations prior to the arrival of the messiah, Rabbi Yochanan said, “Let him come, but let me not see it.” (Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 98b)

The sufferer cannot tolerate any more suffering, and now we need the mercy of G-d to strengthen our true faith in G-d, His holy Torah and His servants who have served Him with all their hearts and souls in the generations before us. (Vayoel Moshe 1:111)

I heard that the religious Zionists announced that this war [of 1967] was necessary and obligatory according to Torah [in order to save the Jewish people from danger]. But it is obvious and known to all who see truth that all these troubles, including the danger of the war, came upon us only as a result of the existence of that Zionist state... it is the Zionist government that aroused the anger of the Arabs by provoking them in various ways, and if not for the stubbornness of its wicked leaders the danger of the war would never have been.

And even now, if they were to give up their state and their government, there is no doubt that they would take G-d's anger away from the Jewish people.

Had they done this, the entire calamity would not have come upon them... And for every minute that they hold on to their power they are offending the Creator, blessed be He, with violation of the oaths and rebellion against the nations, which the holy Torah has forbidden and for which we have been warned of a severe punishment...

And even naturally speaking, if they were to give up their government and Zionist state, there is no doubt that the United Nations would be able to find some way to prevent war and bloodshed.” (Al Hageulah V'al Hatemurah, Chapter 44)

Even if we assume that gentile approval would render it permitted for Jews to immigrate to the Holy Land, this means only approval from the gentile nation living in the Holy Land. The fact that other nations give their approval is irrelevant. Are the nations some kind of legislative body in which the majority can compel the minority?

...And even if all the nations in the world were to come together, their opinion would not be able to change the Torah one iota... so if all the rest of the nations of the world were to tell the Jewish people to rebel against the nation in which they live, it would certainly not be allowed to rebel, since, after all, rebellion is forbidden by the holy Torah. The same is true of immigration to the Holy Land: if the immigration runs against the will of the nation living there, the other nations have no power to permit it. (Vayoel Moshe 1:86)

Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein,
rabbi of Krasna, Hungary (d. 1979)

רבי הילל ליכטענשטיין זצ " ל אב " ד קרא ס נא

I wish to alert you and all of your colleagues to be very careful to avoid the contagious plague of false Zionist belief.

All these tragedies are the result of this defiled Zionism, which was founded by the ultimate source of defilement. Because of it all of these misfortunes come upon the Jewish people. (Om Ani Chomah, 29 Tishrei)

We must make known and reveal that the establishment of the State of Israel and its government is against the Torah and fundamentally wrong. It is a source of poison, leading the Jewish people astray from belief in G-d...

All their celebrations on Independence Day, including the Hallel prayer instituted by their rabbis and any other holiday celebrations – are all idolatry and heresy, and G-d forbid to celebrate their holiday. (Letter to the Central Rabbinical Congress)

When the state was established, two people came to the rabbi's room to give him what they thought was good news. The rabbi said to them, “On this day we should tear our garments and establish a fast day for all time.”

The rabbi also said,

It is obvious to us that all great rabbis of the past unanimously warned to keep far from the Zionists' opinions and ways, and they proved that according to Jewish law it is forbidden to join them for any purpose. They also placed a severe ban on the group known as the religious Zionists, who joined the Zionists.

They looked ahead with their pure eyes and deep understanding and saw that if, G-d forbid, the Zionists would succeed in founding a state, they would induce masses of Jews to deny G-d and His Torah and to desecrate all that is holy.

They would also cause the gentile nations to hate the remainder of the Jewish people both in the Holy Land and elsewhere. With a powerful voice, in writing and orally, they warned everyone to keep far from them in all ways, and to reject them as defiled.

Now it is not the time to be silent, sit with folded hands and see, G-d forbid, the destruction of our people. If we are silent, we will be found guilty of sin, as our Sages say that one person can be blamed for another's sin.

Whoever has the ability to protest against a sin and does not do so is blamed for that sin. Therefore in my opinion the rabbis must take action to save our generation from the poisonous trap of heresy. (Letter, 5717)

Perhaps it would be proper to make their independence day a fast day, in order to show our opposition to the heretics. (Letter to the Central Rabbinical Congress)

We must establish a fixed practice in all Jewish schools for boys and girls that the teachers should spend a little time twice a week teaching children of all ages about the evil of the Zionist doctrine, and condemning their anti-religious acts. They must inculcate into the children the concept of staying apart from the Zionism, their ideas and organizations, their books and newspapers, under any name. (ibid.)

The more one speaks to his children and wife about the evil of these heretics, the better. (Kavanas Halev, Shmini)

It is an obligation for every G-d-fearing Jew to fight against the Zionists in any way possible, to publicize their abominations and to inculcate into our children's hearts to hate them and stay away from them. They must tell the Zionist idol, “Go away, defiled one!” (Responsa Kavanas Halev, Introduction section 5)

Rabbi Yitzchok Lebovitz said, “Particularly following the unprecedented destruction of our people under the wretched Nazi regime, when the indescribable abuse of our people had exceeded any thinkable limit, when Hell was literally experienced here on planet Earth; and following that, also the period of the notorious Soviet Communist persecution of Jews, who refused to surrender their Holy Faith, yearnings for independence were at their peak and suppression of acting upon these feelings was extremely difficult.

So much that we are amazed at the character of those individuals who at that time withstood the challenge and controlled their emotions, favoring rather to accept the will of G-d.

I find it appropriate to mention the courage of my uncle, the Krasner Rav, Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein, who underwent the seven chambers of hell at Auschwitz, and not withstanding this fact, when the Zionist activists lurked in the DP camps morbidly abusing the situation for their personal agenda, recruiting pioneers to aid them in their struggle for independence from G-d, he did not lose his mind and was not able to be coerced.

But rather, upon his arrival at the Landsberg DP camp immediately following liberation from Auschwitz, he stood up and vehemently protested against the Zionist delusion. Upon contemplation of this one should be awed at the greatness of this strength which was a result of his total submission to our Holy Torah.”

Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Greenwald,
Rebbe of Tzelim, Hungary (1893-1980)

רבי לוי יצחק גרינוואלד זצ " ל אב " ד צעהלים

Once a reporter from a Zionist newspaper came and spoke to him and asked him,

“What do you say about the Jewish state?”

The rabbi replied,

Rabbi Eliezer Zusya Portugal,
Rebbe of Skulen, Romania (1896-1982)

רבי אליעזר זוסיא פארטוגאל זצ " ל אדמו " ר מסקולען

Once the Zionists threatened him with a revolver to stop working to save Romanian Jewry, or at least that he should work together with them. The Rebbe stood up and declared, “You can do to me what you want, but as long as I live I will not give up my work, and I will not work together with you.” (Mishkenos Haro'im p. 1030)

G-d forbid for our people to participate in the Knesset, which is full of arrogant heretics. It is incumbent on the great rabbis and Torah scholars to show in this manner that under no circumstances will we recognize a government of heretics in the Holy Land. We will not take part in a gathering of traitors. (Om Ani Chomah 2 Cheshvan 5725)

Are we not obligated to declare openly before the world that they are not our representatives? (Melucha un Retzicha)

Rabbi Yosef Greenwald,
Puper Rebbe, New York (1903-1984)

רבי יוסף גרינוואלד זצ " ל אב " ד ואדמו " ר מפאפא

Unfortunately, in our time, heretics rule in the Holy Land over the Jewish people, and we are not free men... Also in the Holy Land, the verse

has been fulfilled. For the group calling itself “Zionists” has become powerful, a group against which our rabbis of blessed memory warned us and told us to keep as far as possible from, since they are rooted in heresy.

Rabbi Boruch Kaplan,
principal of Bais Yaakov School, Brooklyn, USA (1911-1987)

רבי ברוך קאפלאן זצ"ל מנהל בית יעקב לבנות, ניו יארק

I want to correct an important error, a terrible error that Jews make. Jews think that the Arabs in Hebron [in 1929] were murderers, and they attacks the Jews for the purpose of murder, because they were evil. But if we study the facts, this is incorrect...

The Arabs were very friendly people, and the Jewish people in Hebron lived together with them and had very friendly relations with them. They worked for Jews, and everybody got along just fine.

Today's wicked Zionists are just like their predecessors, who were responsible for causing terrible suffering in Palestine with their wars with the Arabs, may G-d have mercy. At that time in 1929, the Zionists had a slogan arguing that the Western Wall in Jerusalem was a Jewish “national symbol.”

Of course, the Arabs disagreed with this idea, considering that they had control of the location for over 1,100 years. However, the Zionist mobs were yelling that “The Wall is ours!”

It's hard to understand why they felt that way considering they have no connection to the Jewish holy places whatsoever. An argument erupted in the Jewish newspapers about establishing a permanent prayer area for Jews at the Wall.

This provoked the Arabs, and the rabbi of Jerusalem at the time, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld begged them to stop and to be appreciative to the Arabs for allowing Jews to pray at the Wall for so many centuries undisturbed. However, the Zionists wanted a permanent setup under their control.

Everyone must know that the anger of the Arabs against us is only caused by the Zionists! The Arabs were a friendly people to us, and I am a witness to it. We lived very well with them in Hebron. Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter attested to this as well, and it is the accursed Zionists who caused them to hate us.

The Zionists dare to use their power to expel the Arabs, and even today in Lebanon, they kill and butcher the Arabs; they wipe out whole villages with the airplanes they get from the United States.

Everyone should know who the murderers are – the Zionists are the biggest murderers in the world, who refuse to let the Jewish people live in peace either physically or spiritually! (Taped interview)

Rabbi Dovid Smith,
rabbi in London, England and chief rabbi of Lithuania (c. 1989)

רבי דוד סמיט זצ"ל ר"מ בלאנדאן ורב הראשי בווילנא

In truth, the very establishment of the state constitutes denial of all parts of the Torah, because the foundation of our faith is that we have to remain in exile until G-d brings us the redemption, and it must be a redemption without human effort. (Derech Chaim)

The world should know that the massacre in Hebron was not only against Arabs. I myself am a victim of this very same party. I am the chief rabbi of Vilnius, and because I tried to make peace between Jews and non-Jews...

This very same party came over to Vilnius, they wanted to stir up trouble, and because I walked out amongst a very inflammatory speech, they came in on Saturday when we were praying, the exact example that happened in Hebron.

They came into my syngagoue! These were Israelis, they had no right in my synagogue. They came in by force, a hundred of them, they wanted to kill me! I was saved by miracles.

The whole world should know that we are not against Arabs, on the contrary, in our faith, in our Torah, we have to love respect every single person in the world. And these people are against everybody, they wanted to even kill Jews!

As myself the Chief Rabbi of Lithuania they wanted to assassinate me! I was saved by miracles. (Speech on March 4, 1994)

Rabbi Chaim Zanvil Abramowitz,
Ribnitzer Rebbe, New York (1895-1995)

רבי חיים זאנוויל אבראמאוויטש זצ " ל אדמו " ר מריבניץ

Once someone heard the Rebbe cursing the Zionists in strong language for a long time, especially the Zionist leadership and especially Ben-Gurion.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Kahn,
Toldos Ahron Rebbe, Jerusalem (d. 1996)

רבי אברהם יצחק קאהן זצ"ל אדמו " ר מתולדות אהרן

Here we are talking about a heretical government that has been standing for so many years, a state of wicked men and heretics who have no connection with the Jewish faith or the Creator, and hate all that is precious and holy to us. We must fulfil the verse, “I will hate those who hate You, O G-d.” (Speech given in 1992)

What can we say about this generation in which the darkness is powerful – there has not been such darkness since the time of the Flood! The wicked are powerful without limit; they sin and cause others to sin, may G-d spare us. They have taken political power and have already defiled and destroyed thousands and myriads of Jewish souls, may G-d spare us. Woe to us that we see such things! Woe to us that such a thing has happened in our time! (Introduction to Shomer Emunim)

Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Freund,
rabbi of Jerusalem (1904-1996)

רבי משה ארי' פריינד זצ"ל אב " ד יר ושלים

Whoever votes in the election has a portion in the defiled regime. By going out to vote, they give strength to the defiled regime, a regime of heretics whose entire goal is to leave behind the holy Torah, may G-d spare us.

Anyone who goes out to vote has a share in all the sins that are committed there in the heretical Knesset. By voting, one professes belief in the defiled idol, and becomes a partner in it, via his representatives who sit there in that defiled place, committing severe sins equivalent to all the other sins in the Torah. (Speech given prior to elections.)

I have already said many times that at times like this, when G-d's name is being desecrated from one end of the world to the other by the actions of the Zionists and their collaborators, we have a holy obligation to raise our voices like a ram's horn and announce before the entire world and all its nations that we have no connection with these actions, and that according to the true Torah view we are obligated to seek peace with the nations of the world and not to start fights with them.

We rely only on G-d to redeem us from this bitter exile at the time when He sees fit. Our act of protest is a great sanctification of G-d's name, and in this merit surely G-d will have mercy on His poor people, turn aside His anger and redeem us eternally.

Because the sin of forcing the end of exile is what is holding back our redemption, and conversely, in the merit of our placing our trust in G-d and not taking any physical action to force the end, we hasten the redemption, may it be soon. (Ateres Yehoshua, Vayikra p. 4)

At a time like this, it is a great obligation upon us to raise our voices like a ram's horn in a mighty protest that will be heard from one end of the world to the other, to make known to all that according to our true Torah we are obligated to seek peace with the gentile nations among whom we live, and certainly not to arouse conflict with them, as Scripture says, “Seek the peace of the city wherein I have exiled you and pray to G-d on its behalf, for with its peace you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:7).

And on the contrary, it is forbidden for us to do any act to rebel against the nations or force the end of our exile, to take redemption and a state before the coming of the messiah. And certainly it is forbidden to do such abominable acts as have been done [by the Zionists], for all these acts not only do not bring redemption and salvation to the Jewish people, but on the contrary they cause our misfortunes to increase more and more, may G-d spare us. (Ateres Yehoshua, Vayakhel, p. 236)

Rabbi Avigdor Miller,
rabbi of Bais Yisroel Synagogue, Brooklyn, USA (1908-2001)

רבי אביגדור מיללער זצ"ל רב דקהל בית ישראל , ברוקלין

The State of Israel solves nothing. All “problems” remain the same, and new ones are created:

1) The Arabian lands have been rendered uninhabitable for Jews;

2) constant wars with neighbors must be waged, incurring huge military expenditures and loss of many lives, in addition to constant peril;

3) it has exacerbated Jew-hatred in the nations, due to Arab influence and also to embroilment with the foreign policy of the nations;

4) and the proponents of the State of Israel attempt to kindle a fire under the Jews in all lands in order to make their position untenable so that they emigrate to augment the population of the new State. (Sing You Righteous, p. 25)

Can a Jew expel a gentile who possesses land in the Land of Israel? Certainly not, because the land is not ours right now. (Tape # 35 (1973) Question 6)

Rabbi Refoel Blum,
Kasho Rebbe (1910-2005)

רבי רפאל בלום זצ"ל, אדמו " ר מקאשוי

It has been some time since the greatest rabbis, leaders of the fight against Zionism, have passed away. They have left our generation, unfortunately, without a window to let in the light of truth. Therefore we must strengthen ourselves, not weaken in our battle, and not sit with folded hands and laziness; but rather raise our voices constantly against all the sins of the Zionists.

Whenever the leaders of the Zionist state commit terrible desecrations of G-d's name, speaking heretical and insulting words in the name of the Jewish people, we are obligated to come out against them with constant protests and demonstrations. We must not limit our protest to speaking behind closed doors where nobody sees or hears.

The protests must not be against one specific sin or the other, but rather to let the voice of the Torah be heard: that the very existence of the state is like a bonfire, burning, G-d forbid, the parchment and the letters of the Torah. It is not enough just to say that a certain problem needs to be rectified.

Rather, the main stress should be that the entire state is forbidden according to the holy Torah. It is entirely founded on uprooting the Torah, and it is poison for everything holy to us.

We must announce in the streets before the eyes of all the gentile nations that the Zionists are not the leaders of the Jewish people, that they have no right whatsoever to speak in the name of the Jewish people, and that there are still Jews left who are faithful to G-d and His Torah. We must let all this be heard with a powerful voice, not a weak voice. (Ketzei Hashomayim, p. 56)

Rabbi Avrohom Leitner,
Brooklyn, USA (1929-2007)

רבי אברהם לייטנער זצ"ל א ב ד " ק בנין דוד מאנטעווידעא

We have to protest against Zionism in the streets as much as we can. The Satmar Rebbe taught that to us; he said it, he wrote it, he printed it: that we have to tell the nations of the world that we have no connection with the Zionist State. It's a tremendous sanctification of G-d's name to show the gentiles that there are still Jews who are on G-d's side, who hold that whoever does not believe in the Torah is a heretic, is not a Jew.

He may have a state, he may have a parliament - whatever it's called in their defiled language – and people may sit there with beards and sidelocks and whatever kind of hats, and they may have Hasidic prayer belts and black silk robes, but we have nothing to do with them.

This is especially important in view of the past two years, when the Zionist rebellion against the gentile nations has gotten worse, and the nations have the impression that the so-called religious, or hareidim or whatever name they go by, are the most militant of the rebels. (Kovetz Drashos pp. 31-32)

A Jew is only a Jew if he keeps the Torah and its commandments, and he accepts upon himself the yoke of exile. Whoever denies this, G-d forbid, is not a Jew at all. (Kovetz Drashos, p. 43)

Rabbi Yitzchok Dov Koppelman,
head of the yeshiva in Lucerne, Switzerland (1907- )

רבי יצחק דוב קאפעלמאן שליט"א רב לוצערן - שווייץ

Also in our time, everyone has to strengthen himself and arouse within himself great hatred toward those who cause to sin and defile the entire Jewish people. It must be a clean hatred, a hatred of the evil, as King David said, “With the utmost hatred I hate them” (Psalms 139:22).

We have no connection with all these sinners. We do not, G-d forbid, flatter them or show them a smiling face. Needless to say, we do not accept any favors from them. (Speech, 1982)

We hear terrible news that Jews are being killed, may G-d spare us, and this is certainly bitter. Yet I have never seen anyone recite a chapter of Psalms for the thousands and tens of thousands of Jews who were led away from the Torah by those wicked people.

Good Jews are led astray there every day. When a Jew comes to the Zionist state from Russia or Spain or wherever else Jews were scattered, his last spark of Judaism is immediately extinguished.

Those evil ones have established a factory to do away with religion, unparalleled since we became a people. Missionaries arose against us in Spain, but they were not successful.

There were Jews who died to sanctify the Holy Name, other Jews kept their religion secretly and, as is well known, the rest left their land and birthplace. In every generation there are those who wish to destroy us and the Almighty delivers us from their hands.

But these wicked people have been successful in causing millions of Jews to leave their religion. The Midrash cries out that he who causes another to sin is worse than one who kills another person, but no one pays attention. The main thing these people care about is that the Zionists have been successful in this war [Lebanon 1982].

The Psalms are now left to rot - until these people set their accursed minds on doing battle again. No one cries out concerning the Jewish souls who have been sullied by these evil people: "They are murdering Jews! They are murdering Jews!" In fact, the crime is worse than murder, for he who causes another to sin is worse than a murderer.

We would think that these "missionaries" must be gentiles, must stem from a nation that hates Jews. But no, they call themselves Jews. Although completely assimilated, they pretend to be Jews - and this is why they are successful. (Jewish Guardian, 8 Av 5743)

Rabbi Israel Domb,
London England

רבי ישראל יצחק דאמב, לאנדאן , ענגלאנד

The idea of the Zionist State is the opposite of Judaism and everything that it has brought into being is completely opposed to the name under which it goes.

Rabbi Meir Weberman,
Rabbi in Brooklyn, USA

רבי מאיר וועבערמאן שליט"א רב דקהל נתיבות עולם , ברוקלין

By their insolent behavior and by their warlike acts, the Zionists have confirmed the worst of the anti-Semitic clichés... Hatred of Jews roused by the Zionists and their State is crueler, and more overt, than the hatred that sustained the Nazis, may their memory be expunged. (A Threat from within p. 200)

...Nothing could be further from the truth. Zionist and Jew are as much opposite as light and darkness, sweet and bitter, good and evil, and are completely incompatible and inconsistent with one another. Also the pseudo Judaism of the religious Zionists is nothing more than mere mockery. So please, please, never associate one with the other. (a letter to an editor)

Rabbi Moshe Hirsch,
rabbi of Neturei Karta, Jerusalem and Jewish representative in the Palestinian authority (1930-)

רבי משה הירש שליט"א

...The Zionist penetration into the Middle East, which eroded the majestic relationship which prevailed amongst the ethnic groups of the area, was not motivated by religion, nor by an orchestrated concern for fellow Jews. It was an opportunity for a small clique of Jews to exploit age-old Jewish values, in order to emancipate the Jewish nation from their bondage to G-d and His way of life.

They took advantage of the Palestinian indigenous inhabitants' simplicity, who were politically non-oriented, and gained the grasp of the helm of the country, through trickery and treachery. (Letter to King Hassan II of Morocco, May 23, 1989)

We, the undersigned Jewish Palestinians, wish to acquaint you, Mr. Clinton, with the predicament we Jewish Palestinians - Neturei Karta (Guardians of the Holy City) - find ourselves in. Undoubtedly, you are fully cognizant of the situation of the indigenous Palestinian population, which has been under Zionist occupation ever since the Zionists occupiers declared their "independence" and established their state in 1948, and of the blatant violation of internationally recognized human rights to those under their occupation.

We, the tens of thousands of the descendants of the Jewish Palestinians who arrived in the Holy Land centuries before the incursion of the Zionists into the Middle East, wish to inform you of the perilous situation we are encountering...

We beseech you, Mr. Clinton, to grant the Palestinians their independence and statehood, so that we, who chose to live in the Holy Land in order to serve G-d, and are now compelled to live under a sacrilegious rite, will be enabled to continue our residency in the Holy Land under a kosher alternative government - the State of Palestine.

Numerous Jews throughout the world are awaiting this opportunity, which will enable them to immigrate to the Holy Land and practice their religion in the non-sectarian State of Palestine, just as Jews live under non-Jewish governments throughout the world. (Letter to President-elect Clinton, November 9, 1992)

Rabbi Moshe Ber Beck,
rabbi in Monsey, USA

רבי משה דוב בעק שליט"א רב דקהל בית יהודי , מאנסי ניו יארק

We are religious Jews who cling to the old, original Jewish faith and Torah. Our purpose in appearing here today is to make known to the world something that not everyone knows: that the authentic Jewish people is not identical with the Zionist idea and the Zionist state, but rather they are antithetical, like day and night.

G-d sent the Jewish people into exile due to their sins. Through His true prophets, He warned us not to organize ourselves and arise on our own from exile. G-d alone, without help from any creature and without any organization, will redeem us.

The Jewish people's entire life and existence is faith and Torah. They have been waiting in exile for almost two thousand years, with loyalty to the warnings and promises of G-d.

About 150 years ago, non-believing individuals arose who incorrectly understood the essence of the Jewish people. They saw the Jewish people as fundamentally not spiritual but material, and they proposed a modern solution to the “problem of exile”.

Mocking the old tradition of faith and hope, they introduced the concept of self-organization, which the Torah forbids. It is from this concept that the Zionist state was born.

One sin leads to another: they unjustly pulled out the ground from under the feet of the Palestinian people, robbed them of their houses and property, and expelled them cruelly and murderously. This would have been a massive criminal act for an individual Jew – all the more so for a large group of Jews, both according to Torah law and international law.

We are here to proclaim that the original Jewish people has no connection to the Zionist idea, their state or their actions.

Rabbi Ahron Cohen,
rabbi Manchester, England

רבי אהרן כהן שליט"א מאנשעסטער , ענגלאנד

My Friends, we are here today to protest against the terrible wrongs which have been perpetrated and continue to be perpetrated against the Palestinian People by the Zionist illegitimate regime (known as Israel) in Palestine.

My colleagues and I here today come under the banner of Neturei Karta which is the name of the opposition philosophy to Zionism held by Orthodox Jews.

You may well ask: how come we Jews are here protesting in support of Palestinians - who many would think of as enemies of the Jews? The answer, my friends, is that the Palestinian dispute is with the Zionists and not with the Jews.

Zionism and Judaism are two completely different and opposing ideas. Orthodox Jews sympathise entirely with the Palestinian cause. Jewish Orthodox teaching is totally opposed to Zionism on grounds of religious belief and on grounds of Jewish religious values of humanitarianism.

Our belief, going back thousands of years, teaches us that the Jewish People are and have been for the last two thousand years or so in a state of exile decreed by the A-lmighty because they did not maintain certain high standards expected of them. We have been dispersed around the world and our duty is to live as loyal subjects of which ever country we are in.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to attempt to form our own regime in Palestine. And we are warned of dire consequences if we attempt to override this prohibition. To do so is considered a rebellion against the A-lmighty. So, on grounds of religious belief we have no right today to form a regime in Palestine.

The Zionist philosophy, formed about 100 years ago by irreligious non-believers, is that the Jewish People have to fight their own way out of exile. They do not accept in any way the religious prohibition of this action and their approach to the matter of exile is diametrically opposite to the religious passive approach.

But perhaps what is more understandable to the non-Jewish world in the opposition of Judaism to Zionism is the fact that the Zionist ideology was to take over a country with an existing indigenous population and to form a sectarian State irrespective of the consequences to that indigenous people, depriving them of their homes and country.

This was a shocking contravention of humanitarian justice. Humanitarian justice is also a tremendously important element in Jewish Religious values.

The Zionists have thrown this completely overboard in their nationalistic quest for a State of their own. On these grounds too Orthodox Judaism opposes them entirely.

Because of the above the whole idea of a Zionist State is a flawed concept and is the underlying cause of the strife in the Middle East. As Jews, we are ashamed of our brethren who have followed the Zionist path and we wish to state that Zionists do not in any way represent the Jewish People as they would like to have the world believe.

(Approximate Transcript of speech given in Trafalgar Square, London, in connection with the Al Quds demonstration march in support of the Palestinian cause, October 30, 2005)

It constantly amazes me when I observe the protestation of nations such as the USA and the UK that they must protect and preserve the rights of the "democratic State" Israel against threats to its existence, when the whole concept of Israel was and is patently non-democratic, and when by a short look back in history it can be seen that the whole Zionist State was begat by the very violence (and the UK was a victim of this violence) against which these countries now protest...

My friends, of course no one but no one wants violence. But I have a dream which may now seem unrealistic (but who knows): if those who have the power to deliver were to announce sincerely, “We are prepared to abandon the sacred cow concept of a sectarian Zionist State and to discuss its dissolution in its present concept and form,” you would have peace in Palestine.

Jews and Arabs are perfectly capable of living peacefully with each other, as they have done for centuries, if the cause of their conflict is removed. It is obvious to any objective cause of conflict in Palestine is the very existence of the flawed and criminal concept of the Zionist State.

Peace will not be achieved until that concept is dismantled. The governments of the world could bring this about and our prayer is that this should happen peacefully and speedily. (Talk at the Houses of Parliament, January 31, 2006)

But we do have a problem and that is that the Zionists have made themselves to appear as the representatives and spokespeople of all Jews and, with their actions, arouse animosity against all Jews. Then those who harbour this animosity are accused of anti-Semitism.

So although it is abundantly clear that opposition to Zionism and its crimes does not imply hatred of Jews or anti-Semitism, however the wrongs of Zionism are a cause of anti-Zionism overflowing into old fashioned anti-Semitism; and, paradoxically, Zionism itself and its deeds, instead of being a remedy for anti-Semitism, are in fact the biggest cause of anti-Semitism.

Furthermore Zionism actually feeds on anti-Semitism. (Talk to the Cambridge Students' Union, February 6, 2006)

Rabbi Eleizer Hochouzer,
rabbi London, England

רבי אליעזר האכהויזער לאנדאן , ענגלאנד

The cause of the past, current and, G-d forbid, future suffering is the aforementioned rebellion against G-d. The tragic and seemingly intractable conflict in the Middle East is directly attributable to the wicked actions of the Zionist regime against the indigenous population of Palestine, against whom the Zionists have been waging war for more than a century.

Thus, the only solution to bring about peace and harmony is not more war and strife, but rather regime change in historic Palestine!

The Torah's solution to this dilemma would be for the world community to actively work towards the dismantling of the illicit Zionist regime and the restoration of full Palestinian sovereignty over the whole of Palestine. We firmly believe that such a solution would not result in Jews being slaughtered indiscriminately by the Palestinians.

In fact, the very existence of the Zionist state endangers Jewish lives because it constitutes an open rebellion against G-d. Only when the Palestinian people return to their homeland as a sovereign nation and only when the scourge of the racist Zionist occupation has been removed from the sacred soil of Palestine will Jews and Arabs once again live in peace and harmony, as they have done for so many centuries, prior to the inception of Zionism some 100 years ago. Only when the Palestinian refugees are allowed to return to their native soil will there be peace in the Holy Land!

It is a hollow mockery and a desecration of everything sacred to Judaism that the Zionist heretics base their specious claims to the Holy Land on the Bible, justifying their mass invasion, colonization, expropriation and displacement of the native inhabitants of Palestine, who, according to the Torah, are entitled to sovereignty over the whole of their native homeland.

By establishing the “state of Israel”, the Zionists have openly rebelled against the will of G-d and the laws of the Torah and thereby have caused immense pain and immeasurable suffering to both Jews and non-Jews.

At occasions like this where people celebrate the establishment of the state of “Israel”, Torah true Jews lament the invidious attempts by the Zionists to transform Judaism from a religion into a secular, hypernationalistic and fundamentally racist creed and their sinister efforts to uproot the Torah's teachings from the Jewish people. (from a speech July 2006).

Rabbi Mordechai Weberman,
Brooklyn, USA

רבי מרדכי זאב וועבערמאן שליט"א ברוקלין , ניו יארק

There are those who ask us why we march with the Palestinians. Why do we raise the Palestinian flag? Why do we support the Palestinian cause?

“You are Jews!” they tell us. What are you doing?

And our response, which I'd like to share with you this afternoon, is very simple.

It is precisely because we are Jews that we demand that the march with the Palestinians and raise their flag!

It is precisely because we are Jews that we demand that the Palestinian people be returned to their homes and properties!

In our Torah we are taught that we are forbidden to have our own State, even if all the nations, including the Palestinian people, would agree to give it to us. Yes, in our Torah we are taught that G-D sent the Jewish people into exile around two thousand years ago. He then expressly forbade us to attempt to end this G-Dly decreed exile.

The Talmud clearly states that G-D foreswore us with three oaths:

Secondly, we are commanded to be good and compassionate. Of course we are forbidden to steal, kill, etc. Yes, in our Torah we are commanded to be fair. We are called upon to pursue justice. And, what could be more unjust then the century-old attempt of the Zionist movement to invade another people's land, to drive them out and steal their property?

(Speech delivered under the auspices of the Palestine Right of Return Coalition (Al-Awda NY/NJ), at the march in front of the “Israeli” Consulate, on Friday July 26, 2002.)

Rabbi Yosef Goldstein,
London England

רבי יוסף גאלדשטיין, לאנדאן , ענגלאנד

Our gathering today here is a symbol to the world that Jews stand together with Muslims. We have no problem. We have no fight. We have been fighting against Zionism since its inception. When Zionism started off one hundred years ago, all the rabbis came out and condemned it as an ideal in total opposition to the Jewish religion.

The atrocities that we see today are just the outcome of taking religion and transforming it into a political movement. Zionism may have more influence in the world, but Judaism stands for something that's totally opposed to Zionism and Zionism is totally opposed to the Jewish belief.

Your message that you shouted, that you stated before – “Judaism yes! Zionism no!” - is an important message to the world. We have always publicly protested and stated that the fact that the Zionist organization was founded by people of Jewish birth does not make it a Jewish organization.

Communism was also founded by people of Jewish birth, but it's not a Jewish concept. Zionism is no more Jewish than Communism.

Unfortunately, the Zionist activities dominate the press throughout the world, not only in the Holy Land which they occupy. But we as a religious people have no claim to a state. We have lived in Arab countries for generations in peace and harmony and we wish to continue to live among them.

The press has brought a lot of Jews to feel that there is a conflict between Jew and Arab over Jerusalem. This is not true! And at the same time the Arabs feel that we Jews are Zionists. This is also not true! Authentic Jews are not Zionists! Even without the atrocities and the murder that is taking place today, we would still be opposed to Zionism.

We pray daily for the dismantlement of the Zionist state and we wait for the day that the prophets foretold when they said that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” and “the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d.”

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss,
rabbi in Monsey, USA (1956-)

רבי ישראל דוד ווייס שליט"א מאנסי ניו יארק

After the Holocaust, the world took its sense of pity for the Jewish people and bestowed it on the Zionists. Little if any thought was given to the deep and just desire of Palestinians to be a sovereign people in their own land or to the anti-Zionist Jews living therein.

It was as if a man having been chased from his home by a mob comes upon someone else's else home and decides to chase out its inhabitants and take it over. Surely the suffering the man has endured at the hands of the mob is not enough for another family to be evicted from their centuries-old place of residence.

I have little doubt that if a Palestinian people, sovereign in its own land, would have been asked after the Holocaust, along with the other nations of the world, to take in Jewish refugees that they would have easily agreed.

But they could not be expected to abandon, their homes and property and their very identity to make way for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees whose goal was to dispossess them and rule over them. (Speech given on March 14, 2002)

The true Torah solution, the key to peace is the immediate return of Palestine to the Palestinians in its entirety including the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. This would, of course, include a full right of return for all Palestinian refuges.

That is what elementary justice demands. This is the path of the Torah and of common sense.

The Jewish people have many mitzvos (commandments) to pursue in their exile. Fighting and killing Palestinian children are not among them.

Of course, today, millions of Jews reside in Palestine. Whether some, all or none of them might stay under Palestinian rule is, of course, up to the land's rightful rulers, the Palestinians. (ibid.)

The true Torah concept is to relinquish the notions of Zionism and abandon, in a peaceful fashion, the current Zionist sovereignty over the land. This need not sadden any Jew. It is far better to relinquish political power than fail in our religious/moral task as the Torah nation.

It is far better to practice kindness and fairness to all men as dictated by the Torah, than it is to be drawn into a never ending battle with the Palestinians, the Islamic world, the entire Third World and increasingly the nations and peoples of Europe and North America. We Jews have a task, but it is not to be dispossessors or aggressors. (Speech in South Africa)

Rabbi Yisroel P. Feldman,
Monsey, USA

רבי ישראל פנחס פעלדמאן שליט"א מאנסי ניו יארק

We proclaim that the tremendous upsurge of anti-Semitism throughout the world is a direct result of Zionism, and that is exactly what the Zionists want, so that the Jewish people will feel forced to run to them for their supposed protection.

We point a finger at Zionism and its state as the core reason for the colossal tragedy that has been perpetrated in the holy land, against Arab and Jew alike, from the inception of Zionism until today.

We want to stress our pain and embarrassment in regard to the last tragedies and deaths which have accured in Jenin, Nablus, Bais Lechem, the list goes on and on.

But you should know that Zionism is a greater tragedy for Jews than for the Palestinians. From the Palestinians, Zionism and its state, took their land and their bodies, but from the Jews the Zionists and its State took their souls, their belief in God and in fact they have transformed the hole concept of Judaism. (Speech at the Manhattan rally of the Metropolitan Muslim Coalition on April 12, 2002)

The Talmud and Jewish Law

The Babylonian Talmud, compiled about 1500 years ago, is the comprehensive body of Jewish law intended to explain and safeguard the laws of the Bible.

Religious Jews believe that the basic laws of the Talmud were given to Moses at Mt. Sinai and transmitted orally from generation to generation.

Countless passages in the Talmud, its commentaries and legal codes show the ideals of kindness and fairness to all of mankind aspired to and practiced by the Jewish people.

Unfortunately, some individuals in our time have accused the Talmud of advocating racism and unfair treatment of gentiles. They provide short quotations, invariably taken completely out of context, that seem to support their accusations.

In reply to these accusers, we can only remind people that the Talmud is the word of G-d, not of man. The Talmud contains a vast amount of material; to cover it all takes the brightest scholars a lifetime of study.

Although it does contain a small number of statements directed at gentiles, most of the Talmud consists of laws and sharply-stated ethical teachings directed at Jews. For every “anti-gentile” statement the critics can find, there are ten “anti-Jewish” statements. And just as the latter must be studied in context, so too the former.

One brief example: the Babylonian Talmud was written in Babylonia as its name indicates. Yet it contains the statement, “Whoever lives outside the Holy Land is as if he worshipped idols.”

The greatest proof that the Talmud does not advocate unfair treatment of gentiles is that every since the Talmud was completed, the Jews who follow it have lived in exile among many gentile countries. In every place where they lived, they conducted their business affairs with the local gentiles with the utmost honesty and fairness.

Below you will find quotations from the major codes of Talmudic law, exemplifying the Talmud's positions on gentiles.

The Code of Jewish Law, written about 500 years ago by a Palestinian rabbi named Rabbi Joseph Caro (1488-1575), is today the universally accepted codification of Talmudic law. Before that, the codes of Maimonides (1135-1204) were prevalent.

Charity

Jews are obligated to give charity to poor gentiles as well as poor Jews (Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah 251:1)

Jews must bury the dead of the gentiles, comfort their mourners and visit their sick. (Maimonides, Laws of Mourning 14:12)

The commandment of “visiting the sick” applies to sick gentiles as well as sick Jews. (Code of Jewish Law, Yoreh Deah 335:9)

Theft

Anyone who steals even a minor amount violates the prohibition of [Leviticus 19:11] "You shall not steal" and is required to repay [the amount stolen] whether one steals from a Jew or a gentile. (Code of Jewish Law, Choshen Mishpat 348:2)

It is forbidden to rob or to cheat even a minor amount from either a Jew or a gentile. (Code of Jewish Law, Choshen Mishpat 359:1)

It is Biblically forbidden to steal even a minor amount; even a gentile - it is forbidden to steal from him or to cheat him. And if you stole from him or cheated him you must return the stolen money or object. (Maimonides, Laws of Stealing 1:2)

Maimonides of blessed memory wrote that if one lies in his measures and thereby overcharges even to an idolatrous gentile one violates a negative commandment and must return the money.

Similarly, it is forbidden to mislead the gentiles in calculating prices as it says [Leviticus 25:50] "he shall make a reckoning with his purchaser" even if he is subjugated to your authority; even more so if the gentile is not subjugated to your authority, and it says [Deuteronomy 25:16] "For an abomination to the Lord, you G-d, are all who do this." (Sefer HaChinuch, 259)

And similiarly, lies, tricks, subterfuges, cheatings, and circumventions of gentiles are forbidden. They said, “It is forbidden to deceive anyone, even an idolatrous gentile” and even more so when it can lead to the desecration of G-d's name. For that is a great sin and imbues in a person bad traits.

And regarding all these wicked actions, G-d explained that He will be disgusted with them and with those who perform them, as it says: (Deuteronomy 18:12) "For anyone who does these is an abomination of G-d." (Maimonides, Commentary to the Mishnah, Keilim 12:7)

Returning Lost Objects

R. Chaninah told this story: Some rabbinic scholars bought one pile of wheat from some gentile soldiers. [The scholars] found in it a bundle of money and returned it to [the soldiers]. [The soldiers] said "Blessed is the G-d of the Jews." (Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 2:5 (7a))

Once, Rabbi Shimon ben Shetach bought a donkey from an Arab. His students went and found a precious stone hanging around [the donkey's] neck. Rabbi said to him [Proverbs 10:22] "It is the blessing of G-d that enriches." R. Shimon ben Shetach said to him "I bought a donkey. I did not buy a precious stone." He went and returned it to the Arab and the Arab said "Blessed is the G-d of Shimon ben Shetach." (Midrash Devarim Rabbah 3:3)

R. Shmuel ben Sustrai went to Rome when the empress had lost her bracelet and he found it. A decree was proclaimed in the region that anyone who returned it within 30 days would be paid such and such; anyone who returned it after 30 days would be beheaded.

He didn't return it within 30 days but after 30 days. She said to him "Weren't you in the region?" He replied "Yes." She said to him "Didn't you hear the proclamation?" He replied "Yes."

She said to him "What was it?" He replied "Whoever returns it within 30 days will receive such and such; whoever returns it after 30 days will be beheaded." She said to him "And why didn't you return it within 30 days?"

He replied "So that you wouldn't say that I did it because of fear of you; rather I did it out of fear of G-d." She said to him "Blessed is the G-d of the Jews." (Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 2:5 (7a))

Deception

Talmud, Tractate Chullin 94a. Shmuel said: One may not deceive another person, even a non-Jew. This was not said explicitly by Shmuel, but was derived from the following story: Shmuel once crossed the river using a ferryboat. He told his servant to pay the ferryman. The servant gave the ferryman a non-kosher chicken, allowing the ferryman to assume that it was kosher.

The Talmudic commentator Rashi explains: Shmuel's law explains why the Mishnah says that one may not give a non-Jew a piece of meat from which the sciatic nerve (forbidden to Jews) was not removed. The non-Jew might not notice this and may assume that the Jew is giving him valuable kosher meat. He will then feel gratitude toward the Jew, a gratitude based on a false premise.

This law is codified by Maimonides (Laws of Sale 18:3) and by the Code of Jewish Law (Choshen Mishpat 228:6).