Neturei Karta burn Israeli flags in Jerusalem
Members of anti-Zionist group all over the world perform traditional Purim 'mitzvah'. Organizer of Jerusalem ceremony: Zionism modern-day Amalek
Neturei Karta members around the world on Monday performed the traditional Purim ceremony in which they burn Israeli flags.
On Purim Jews celebrate the foiling of Haman the Amalekite's plot to destroy the Jewish people. The anti-Zionist Jewish group claims Zionism is the modern-day Amalek, a tribe which attacked the Israelites in the Sinai desert after they fled Egypt.
In Jerusalem, some 20 members of the anti-Zionist Jewish group gathered in the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood to perform the "mitzvah" while waving Palestinian flags.
Similar ceremonies were held in London, in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Williamsburg and in other Neturei Karta communities around the world.
One of the organizers of the ceremony in Jerusalem told Ynet, "We must keep in mind that Amalek's goal was to make the people of Israel sin and not necessarily kill them. Therefore, the true Amalek is Zionism and the State of Israel."
A few days before Purim Ynet reported that Neturei Karta had distributed flyers asserting that Nazi costumes and accessories are preferable to any costume which includes Zionist elements.
"After last year's success, in response to the extensive demand and after great effort, we have managed to organize the import of special costumes for Purim," they wrote in what they called a joyful notice for the holiday. Customers were promised that "these costumes are very rare and historically accurate."
According to the flyers, items available include German SS uniforms, Luftwaffe pilot uniforms, Hitler Jungen (the Nazi youth movement) uniforms, and Einsatzgruppe ('death squads') uniforms, as well as Inquisition costumes.
