Jews Against Zionism: The Hidden Alliance and the Wound of Palestine - An Egyptian Reflection on Al Jazeera’s Documentary

A Land That Remembers

Every nation carries wounds, but some wounds refuse to scab.
For Egyptians especially those whose grandparents fought in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 the wound of Palestine is not a political argument.
It is a memory.

It lives in the smell of old uniforms stored in wooden cabinets.
It lives in the stories whispered by grandfathers who returned from the front with sand in their hair and silence in their eyes.
It lives in the names of villages our fathers memorized though they never saw them.

And it lives in a truth older than any map:

A land was taken.
A people were uprooted.
And the world allowed it.

But what happens when a group of Jews  rabbis with beards flowing like rivers of time stand and declare:

“This was never our right.
Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism.
And the Palestinians were wronged.”

Al Jazeera’s documentary “Neturei Karta: Jews Against Zionism” is not merely a film.
It is a rupture in the carefully manufactured certainty that Zionism equals Judaism.

It is a reminder that history has survivors on all sides of injustice.
And that sometimes the strongest allies of the oppressed emerge from within the oppressor’s tent.

This essay is my attempt as an Egyptian, a Muslim, a grandson of men who fought Zionists to examine the documentary in full depth while situating it in the long arc of colonialism, theology, human dignity, and the moral fracture at the heart of the “Jewish state.”

I. NETUREI KARTA: THE JEWISH REBELS WHO REFUSED THE FLAG

The documentary opens with a world the West knows little about:
 Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement born in Jerusalem in 1938, whose name means “Guardians of the City.”

Except, they are guardians not of a Zionist capital, but of an ancient belief:

Jews must not establish a state before the messiah.
To create a political state in God’s name is rebellion against God Himself.

From the first scene, the documentary disrupts the Western myth:

• That all Jews supported Zionism.
• That Jews as a whole “returned” to Palestine.
• That Israel is the culmination of Jewish theology.

Rabbi after rabbi repeats the same truth:
Zionism is a secular political movement, not a religious mandate.
Its founders were not rabbis, but European nationalists, many atheists, many hostile to Jewish tradition.

The irony that screams through the film is one Arabs have always known:

Zionism did not save Judaism.
It hijacked it.

And Neturei Karta has spent almost a century exposing this theft.

II. A RELIGIOUS TRUTH ZIONISM WISHED TO OBSCURE

In Judaism, exile is sacred.
It is divine punishment for collective sins.
Redemption will come but only through the messiah, not by force of arms.

This is not a fringe belief.
It is written in centuries of Jewish scholarship.

The documentary masterfully contrasts Torah Judaism with political Zionism:

This is why the rabbis in the film speak with grief, not anger.

To them, Zionism is not merely a political error it is a spiritual betrayal.

And to the Arab viewer, especially a Muslim, there is something profoundly moving in this:
a Jewish confirmation that the land was not ordained for theft.

III. PALESTINE BEFORE THE STORM: A LAND OF NEIGHBORHOOD

Al Jazeera’s documentary makes one point with remarkable clarity:

Before Zionism, Jews lived in Palestine peacefully - with Muslims, Christians, and others.

They prayed in Jerusalem.
They traded in markets.
They shared bread with their Muslim neighbors.

There was no Jewish-Muslim “ancient hatred.”
That hatred was imported.

And it was imported not by Jews as a whole - but by a European nationalist movement that saw Palestine not as holy land but as empty land, a “solution” to the Jewish Question of Europe.

The documentary gives us Jewish voices saying what Arabs have screamed for decades:

“It was not our land to take.”
“Zionists used our suffering to justify dispossession.”
“Religion was weaponized for political power.”

Hearing these words from rabbis - bearded, calm, unwavering - feels like moral oxygen.

Because truth sounds different when it comes from inside the walls of the mythology.

IV. ZIONISM AS A EUROPEAN COLONIAL PROJECT

The film does not shy away from identifying Zionism for what it is:
a colonial project engineered in Europe, financed by European powers, and executed on Arab soil.

Not born from scripture.
Not born from divine promise.
But from European guilt and European racism.

To understand 1948, the documentary implicitly urges us to understand:

1. European antisemitism created Zionism

Because Europe wanted Jews out.

2. European colonialism enabled Zionism

Because Palestine was under British control.

3. European racial thinking justified Zionism

Because indigenous Arabs were treated as disposable obstacles.

This truth aligns perfectly with Egyptian historical memory.

My grandfather used to say:

“The Zionists came to Palestine the way the English came to Egypt with maps, not prayers.”

Nothing in the documentary contradicts this.
Everything confirms it.

V. THE NAKBA: THE ORIGINAL CRIME THE WORLD STILL REFUSES TO SEE

The film touches a wound that still bleeds:

The Nakba.
The catastrophe.
The expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians.
The destruction of 500 villages.
The erasure of a civilization.

Neturei Karta rabbis speak of this with sorrow:

“The Palestinians were the rightful inhabitants.”
“They were uprooted unjustly.”
“This is not the Jewish way.”

And then comes the line that shatters the mythology:

“In Jewish law, we are forbidden from stealing land.”

What Zionists have done expansion, annexation, settlement violates the very religious tradition they claim as justification.

As an Egyptian, this resonates with our collective memory of fighting in Sinai, of watching the land carved, then reclaimed, then threatened again.

We were told for decades that opposing Zionism was antisemitism.
But here are Jews themselves saying:

“The Zionists betrayed us all Jews and Arabs alike.”

VI. NETUREI KARTA: THE COURAGE TO STAND WITH THE OPPRESSED

The film shows the rabbis marching with Palestinians, embracing mothers from Gaza, crying at refugee camps.

Not symbolically.
Physically.
Shoulder to shoulder.

This is one of the most powerful aspects of the documentary:

It documents Jewish solidarity not as political performance but as religious duty.

The rabbis say:

• “We stand with the oppressed.”
• “Not because we are political, but because the Torah commands it.”
• “Zionism is not our Judaism.”

In one scene, a rabbi speaks at a pro-Palestinian rally, draped in Palestinian scarves, declaring:

“Judaism and Zionism are diametrically opposed.”

To hear this after decades of Zionist propaganda conflating the two is like inhaling air after drowning.

VII. THE MYTH OF “A LAND WITHOUT A PEOPLE”

One of Zionism’s most sinister inventions was the lie that Palestine was empty.

But the documentary dissects this myth with precision:

• Palestine was populated.
• Palestine was cultivated.
• Palestine had cities, schools, culture, and identity.
• Jews and Arabs lived together peacefully.
• There was no “Jewish absence” waiting for return.

The lie of emptiness required violence to maintain.

And so:

• Villages were razed.
• Records destroyed.
• Arabic names erased.
• Olive groves uprooted.
• Mosques converted into nightclubs or storage.
• Children forced into exile.

This is not ancient history.
This is yesterday.
And today.
And now.

VIII. THE THEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT: WHY ZIONISM IS HERESY

The documentary’s most groundbreaking contribution is its theological demolition of Zionism.

Neturei Karta explains a Jewish law unknown to most of the world:

The Three Oaths (Ketubot 111a)

1. Jews may not return to the land en masse by force.
2. Jews may not rebel against the nations.
3. The nations must not persecute the Jews excessively.

Zionism violates the first two.
European antisemitism violated the third.

Therefore, Zionism is not a divine return.
It is a rebellion against divine commandments.

The rabbis in the documentary go further:

• Zionism desecrates God’s name.
• Zionism replaces God with nationalism.
• Zionism uses Jewish suffering to justify aggression.
• Zionism forces the world to hate Jews by associating them with injustice.

In their view:

Zionism harms Jews.
Zionism harms Palestinians.
Zionism harms Judaism.

This is not rhetoric.
It is theology.

IX. “NOT IN OUR NAME”: THE JEWISH REBELLION AGAINST ISRAEL

Neturei Karta does not merely oppose Israel politically.
They reject it theologically, morally, historically, and legally.

Their slogans shown throughout the documentary are thunderous:

• “Judaism rejects the Zionist state.”
• “Authentic Jews oppose Israel.”
• “Israel does not represent world Jewry.”
• “Zionism is not a Jewish idea.”
• “The state of Israel must be peacefully dismantled.”

Peacefully this is crucial.

Their vision is reconciliation, not revenge.
Justice, not retaliation.

They say:

“Once the Zionist state dissolves, Jews and Arabs will live together as they did for centuries.”

This aligns precisely with what every Palestinian refugee still prays for:
not domination, but coexistence.

X. A MEMORY CARRIED IN EGYPTIAN BLOOD

For Egyptians like myself, this film is not intellectual.

It is ancestral.

My grandfather fought in the Suez War.
My uncles fought in 1967 and 1973.
My family carries the weight of a conflict we did not choose.

We grew up knowing:

• Zionists were armed by empires.
• Palestinians were abandoned.
• Egypt paid in blood for resisting.
• History books were rewritten.
• Western media erased our narrative.
• Hollywood painted Israel as victim.
• Arabs were caricatured as terrorists.
• And Palestine slowly disappeared from maps.

Watching Jewish rabbis affirm our grandparents’ words 
without hate, without politics, without fear 
is a kind of vindication.

A moral vindication decades overdue.

XI. THE DOCUMENTARY’S QUIET REVOLUTION

One of the documentary’s strengths is subtlety.

It does not yell.
It does not exaggerate.
It does not manipulate emotion.

It simply shows rabbis peaceful men, soft-spoken men articulating truths Zionists have tried to bury for 75 years.

Truths like:

1. Judaism does not claim exclusive ownership of the land.

2. Palestinians were wronged.

3. Zionism is incompatible with Jewish law.

4. Israel uses Jewish identity to justify violence.

5. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.

This last point is essential.

Zionists weaponized antisemitism to protect their project.
Neturei Karta destroys that shield.

If Jews say Zionism is wrong,
how can anti-Zionism be antisemitic?

XII. WHY ZIONISM FEARS NETUREi KARTA

Zionism can handle Palestinian criticism.
It can dismiss Arab outrage.
It can neutralize Western activists.

But Neturei Karta terrifies it.

Why?

Because they expose the lie Zionism depends on:

“We represent Jews.”

If Jews themselves reject Zionism, the entire ideological foundation collapses.

This is why Neturei Karta rabbis have been:

• insulted
• threatened
• attacked
• banned from synagogues
• ostracized
• labeled traitors

Not by Arabs.
By Zionists.

The film shows the cost of truth within the Jewish community itself.

XIII. THE WEAPONIZATION OF TRAUMA

One of the most powerful insights in the documentary is the misuse of the Holocaust.

Neturei Karta rabbis argue:

• The Holocaust was a crime by Europeans against Jews.
• Zionism turned it into a political tool.
• Palestinian refugees pay for European crimes.
• Israel exploits Jewish trauma to justify occupation.

This is an unspeakable truth in Western discourse.
But the rabbis speak it freely.

They say:

“Using the Holocaust to justify another people’s suffering is immoral.”

Arabs have said this for decades.
But when Jews say it, the world listens differently.

This is why the documentary is revolutionary.

XIV. THE MORAL MAP: WHAT THE DOCUMENTARY ASKS US TO SEE

At its core, the documentary is not about Jews nor Muslims, not about theology nor politics.
It is about moral courage.

It asks the viewer:

• Can you separate a people from a political ideology?
• Can you distinguish Judaism from Zionism?
• Can you hear Jewish voices condemning injustice?
• Can you see Palestinians as victims of colonialism, not enemies of religion?
• Can you admit that the narrative you were taught may be false?

And to Arabs, it asks:

• Can you allow yourself to accept Jewish allies?
• Can you imagine a future without war?
• Can you honor the Jewish voices who stand with Palestine?

These are difficult questions.
But the film demands them.

XV. AN EGYPTIAN VIEW: THE WAR WAS NEVER AGAINST JEWS

This is where my own voice enters.

Egyptians have never hated Jews.
Our history is full of Jewish families Egyptian, Arab, neighbors, citizens.

Our fight was never against Judaism.
It was against Zionism.

We fought because:

• A land was stolen.
• A people were expelled.
• A colonial entity armed by empires appeared at our borders.
• Our sovereignty was threatened.
• Our dignity was challenged.

The documentary validates this distinction.

It presents a Jewish resistance to Zionism that mirrors the Arab one.

And in doing so, it creates a bridge.

XVI. WHAT THE DOCUMENTARY EXPOSES: ZIONISM’S MOST DANGEROUS MYTH

Beyond all its historical and theological arguments, the film exposes the most dangerous Zionist deception:

That Israel’s crimes represent Jews.

Neturei Karta rebukes this with fire:

• “Israel does not speak for us.”
• “Judaism rejects Zionism.”
• “Millions of Jews oppose the Israeli state.”
• “Zionism weaponizes our identity.”

This is crucial because Zionism relies on emotional blackmail.

If criticizing Israel = antisemitism,
then Israel becomes untouchable.

Al Jazeera’s documentary destroys this shield with Jewish testimony.

XVII. A FUTURE WITHOUT ZIONISM: THE RABBIS’ VISION

Toward the film’s end, the rabbis articulate their vision for post-Zionist Palestine:

• Jews and Muslims living together
• No Jewish state
• No forced displacement
• Equal rights
• Religious freedom
• Justice for Palestinians
• No revenge, no violence, no domination

Their dream mirrors the dream of millions of Palestinians:

A land where no one is colonizer and no one is colonized.

This is perhaps the most radical idea of all.
Not that Zionism is wrong.
But that peace is possible without it.

XVIII. THE COST OF TRUTH: LIVES, FAITH, AND HISTORY

The rabbis have paid a price.

Many have lost:

• community
• security
• reputation
• income
• safety

Why?

Because truth has a cost in every age.

But their courage forces a question on the world’s conscience:

If Jews can oppose Zionism without hate,
why can’t the world distinguish the two?

XIX. WHY THIS DOCUMENTARY MATTERS NOW

We live in a time when Gaza burns on live TV.
When journalists are killed and hospitals bombed.
When the world debates numbers while children are buried under rubble.
When colonial logic wraps itself in democratic language.

And in this time, a documentary like this is more than media.

It is a mirror held up to the world.

It says:

“There are Jews who refuse to be silent.
You have no excuse to remain silent either.”

XX. MY GRANDFATHER’S MAP

When I finished the documentary, I remembered something my grandfather kept in a drawer:

A hand-drawn map of Palestine.
Not printed.
Drawn by memory.
Villages labeled by hand.
Borders sketched in pencil.
A hope scribbled into geography.

He kept it until he died.

He never lived to see justice.
Not even a fraction of it.

But I believe, if he could watch this documentary, he would place his finger on the screen where the rabbis wept with Palestinian refugees and say:

“This is what we fought for.”

Not land.
Not glory.
Not revenge.
But truth.

A truth that refuses to drown:

Judaism is not Zionism.

Zionism is not Judaism.
And Palestine was never empty.

It was full of life, of history, of people, of olive trees, of prayers to God that ascended long before Herzl wrote his pamphlets.

Truth is not partisan.
Truth is not nationalist.
Truth does not require permission.

Truth is simply what remains
when propaganda burns to ash.

And this documentary 
quiet, courageous, unwavering 
lets truth finally speak in a voice
the world cannot ignore.