Zionists Fleeing Israel for Europe Leaving Behind Ultra-Orthodox Who Support Palestinian Cause

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis Defy Zionism

All wars end sooner or later.  Israel has reached a strategic dead-end and a growing number of disenchanted Zionists are quietly expressing their views about the future with their passports. In an article entitled "Why Jews Flee to Europe" Globe and Mail reporter Doug Saunders observed:

 Amid growing tensions and tough economic conditions, tens of thousands of educated middle-class Jews are fleeing every year – not out of the continent, but rather from Israel into Europe, and especially to Germany, which has become the chief destination (after the United States) for the half-million Israelis who have left the country amid its much-discussed “brain drain.”

The Jerusalem Post criticized a report published in a German newspaper which claimed that "tens of thousands of Israeli Jews had fled Israel for Germany."  In truth, the number of Jews who had relocated to the German Republic was closer to 11,000.  Even so, an estimated 700,000 mostly secular Jews have abandoned the "Promised Land" since the founding of Israel in 1948.

But if more and more secular Jews leave Israel, what does that mean in terms of the ongoing war with the Palestinians?  Ironically, many of the ultra-orthodox or Haredi Jews rejected Zionism from the very beginning and continue to do so.  They claim that the Jewish state could only be formed through Divine intervention with the coming of the Jewish messiah.  They also believe that attempts to force history are courting disaster. The ultra-orthodox even receive exemption from compulsory military service.

Neturei Karta is the most vocal anti-Zionist organization of ultra-orthodox Jews. It calls for dismantling the Jewish State, maintained a prayer vigil outside the hospital where the dying Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat lay on his deathbed and marched into Gaza to protest the Israeli invasion. Zionists consider groups like Neturei Karta fringe movements. But as the Jewish demographics continue to shift on account of out migrations, their influence will only grow.