Thanks for the post. Some interesting info on the site. I'd been reading the JC (Jewish Chronicle) for the last few months trying to familiarize myself with jewish thought and was finding it pretty hard going with the right wing zionist bias, but after reading the comments on the Jewdas site from other informed jews it put things in perspective, as in the JC is zionist but very few jews read it or give it any credibility. Solidarity with your anti zionist stance. Viva Palestina

that far, far more UK Jews read the JC than say "viva palestina."

I'd expect more UK jews to support the palestinians as its obvious who the bully is, Israel. After listening to rabbi Weiss of Neturei Karta, I was of the understanding the true jewish people were peaceful and lived in peace with the arabs before the invasion, in fact not wanting a homeland until their messiah returned.On what basis do you suspect more jews read/support the zionist JC site than support the palestinians? If what you suspect is true, is it not pretty weak for the UK jews to align themselves with such an oppressive apartied system. This comment is written in an inquisitive friendly way, there is no insult intended.

I think something quite crucial that Jewdas is trying to achieve is to reignite a sense of jewish identity which is not founded solely on the Two Big Jewish Issues - Israel and the Holocaust. Though they are outspokenly critical of Israel [ see:  http://www.jewdas.org/2009/05/lieberman-in-london/ and  http://www.jewdas.org/2009/01/that-hoax-email/ ] the central question isn't necessarily "what is your opnion about Israel" because there is more to being a jew than that, especially in the diaspora, just as there is more to being American in the UK than Iraq and Afghanistan, if that makes any sense. Jews have been stateless people for far longer than they have supposedly had a state, and that stateless identity is what Jewdas seems to be trying to reignite.

About the more general question of "what percentage of jews in the UK support the occupation of Palestine, one has to be clear that there has never (or at least for a long time) been any kind of census on this so any guess is nothing more than speculation. There is a lot of divergent opinion, ranging from fundamentalist racism to patriotic liberalism to solidarity with Palestine and active peace work (see jfjfp and ijsn) just like in any culture. And just like society generally, the establishment, with its newspapers and leadership, scaremongers and promotes xenophobia. This works on some people and it doesn't to others, and for the majority it works to a shade of grey. One must be very cautious when asking questions like "what do jews think of x, y, z", its basically an impossible question to answere and it probably doesn't lead to any progress.

i live in a mainly jewish area of london called stamford hill. most of my neighbours are not zionist. once when i commented on this i was told "jews who support israel go there, in britain we are all jews who choose not to go to israel obviously"...

There you are then, if you're getting your information about what a "real Jew" is from "Rabbi" Weiss, then no wonder you're confused. Do a little fact finding and you'll discover that the Neturai Karta is a tiny but self-promoting sect held in contempt by Jews across the religious spectrum. He's not Neturai Karta, he's from a little split sect of it that's been condemned by the main branch. And he's also a self-declared rabbi, by the way.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neturei_Karta

In short, you're learning about Jews from a confidence man. But he says what you want to hear, so you'll fall for it.

thanks for the post berele and the links, much appreciated. I read  http://www.jewdas.org/2009/01/that-hoax-email/ and even though I knew it was a hoax still got suckerd in, thinking wow this is positive. Never mind. Anyway I'll start checking out the Jewdas site now instead, as it appears more honest than JC. Didn't quite get the 'Americans in the UK' point, are you saying Jews aren't one people, only in name? Thanks.

Atheist jew, I get your point,but surely zionism isn't about where you live, but what you think?

Ah well then, thanks for your concern about my confusion. Its not that 'rabbi' Weiss says what i want to hear, its that he doesn't say all the hateful and intolerant things that the zionists do. Wikipedia can hardly be called fact finding, why the attitude? I apologise if I have upset you.

Yep worth a read especially comments