Between Satmer and Neturei Karta

This is a note I wanted to write for a long time. But after the tragedy of October 7th, both Satmer and Neturei Karta were mixed together in the fish bowl of anti-Zionism. Which at a certain extent they share, the difference being in the manifestation and the extent of the anti-Zionist take.

Both movements do share a common opinion about the state of Israel: Zionism is wrong, and the real return of Jews to the land of Israel should happen only when Moshiah will come. In the words of the late Satmer Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum - who was helped to escape Hungary during the war thanks to the efforts of a Zionist, Kasztner : ´even if the members ofthe Knesset were righteous and holy, it is a terrible and awful criminal iniquity to seize redemption and rule before the time has come´. Both Satmer and Neturei Karta may do mention lack of religiosity as a cause of the Shoah, but such outrageous statements are usually normal for the religious self-righteous.

But except those points of contact, the gap is only getting bigger and bigger. Among others, Satmer are a Hasidic group, while the Neturei Karta, founded in the 1930s by Amram Blau - whose late wife Ruth Blau was a very interesting character - , following the split with Agudah Yisrael is rather anti- and non-Hasidic.

Satmer, a Hasidic group originary from Satu-Mare/Szatmar/סאטמאר currently Romania, usually avoid political and ideological statement against the state of Israel. On the other hand, Neturei Karta, whose representatives wearing Palestinian shawls and carrying ridiculous billboards at pro-Hamas gatherings, are actively taking part in dismantling the state of Israel. Satmer is usually avoiding any kind of association with NK, and every normal human will do it. NK has a provocative history of being associated with PIJ or Hamas, and used to regularly receive money fromt the Palestinian Authority. Some of their representatives even visited Tehran in order to participate at an infamous Holocaust denial event. 

Hopefully, those distinctions will be helpful to properly associate ideological and ideatic patterns in relationship with certain anti-Zionist religious trends.