SHOTLIST:

ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE (SEP. 11, 2025) (ANADOLU - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-ZIONIST ACTIVIST RABBI YISROEL DOVID WEISS SAYING:

"Well, with the help of the Almighty. he should give me his words to be able to clarify this issue. it is really so simple. Judaism is a religion of over 3000 years. Zionism was just started around 140 years ago. Judaism was a movement of being subservient, not a movement. A religion to be subservient to God, to keep the laws of the Torah.

Not to kill, not to steal, to become passionate, to keep the Sabbath. Judaism states clearly that we. Since the destruction of the temple 2000 years ago, we are expressly forbidden to make our own sovereignty. And that is why, for 2000 years, Jews never established their own sovereignty, their own state. That was, they were capable in 2000 years of, creating the state.

It is forbidden for us. Zionism is, a total, misconstruing of what Judaism is, a falsification of what Judaism is. The Jewish people demonstrated and still demonstrate for all the years 77 years or more, and they get brutally beaten by the army, Israeli army. We don't carry guns. These are Jewish people observing the Torah. We don't carry guns or knives.

And that brutally beaten old rabbis, young children. They're arrested because they refuse to serve in their army. And this is what you can witness and see constantly demonstrated from day one. The chief rabbi of Palestine in 1947, United Nations documents stated clearly, we wish, we furthermore wish to express our definite opposition to a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.

That's the opinions just now we've had in the last three weeks. There's a town called Yehuda in occupied Palestine. It's it used to be hundreds of years ago, a Jewish, a Jewish town, because there's a Jewish cemetery. But but the Zionist have nothing with God or Judaism, so they don't care. They digging up cemeteries and they. And when they're doing it, they're, they're, they're they're the rabbis put out.

You can see the skulls, the skulls of people there and what's happening. Thousands and thousands of Jews are on the streets demonstrating there. And the brutally being beaten. Is there a word in the press around the world if this would happen, God forbid, in the United States, Canada, anywhere in the world, they would yell anti-Semitism. They're doing this with impunity.

Opposing Netanyahu has been not only opposing Nathaniel, as I've showed you in the, we've been the under way. We were demonstrating against the pictures. Yeah, I could show you the, the, the, the tens of thousands of Jews. And this is every single time Nathaniel would come. Nothing. Nathaniel would come. They would go and demonstrate. I personally was there in Washington, DC tens of times, as you can see here.

This is when it came to President Obama. Tens of thousands of Jews in front of the white House. That's stating Bibi Netanyahu and the State of Israel doesn't represent world Jewry. Israel has no right to rule that any part of the Holy Land. So demonstrations were ongoing for all the time, for tens, if not for all the 77 years.

So the opposition was there, but the intimidation, the attacks against Jews was always there. So it made people if it wouldn't be for that, there would be hundreds of thousands demonstrating. But the being brutally beaten all the time in the demonstrations, they're getting beaten daily by the by the Zionists and they assassinated the rabbis, arrested and assassinated. Now there is an added voice of even the Zionists who are watching this carnage in Gaza.

And it's slowly, awakening their soul, I think, or awakening at least the humanitarian feelings. But there are many others. And in the hundreds of thousands around the world, certainly, who are standing up and say, we cannot witness this carnage. Yeah, well, we certainly we, with God's help. It that is why it is so critical to understand that they're waving.

The Star of David is saying Israel doesn't mean anything. And when they yell anti-Semite like the ones who are opposing, it doesn't mean anything. That is why it's so critical that the Jewish voice, together with the world's voice of the those of the Arab and Muslim world and the Christian, they should all be together and standing up, because that takes away the pressure of the world leaders when they're being accused of being anti-Semitic.

So we're definitely is critical that we work together and and speak up and demand from the world leaders to stop this carnage. So I think it is critical. And remember, always the religion was never the difference of religion was never an impediment to coexistence. We were always living together in peace. And that will happen again." ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE - SEP. 11: Anti-Zionist activist Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta International has warned that Zionism not only contradicts the principles of Judaism but also puts Jewish communities at risk globally by associating them with Israel’s actions in Gaza and Palestine.
Speaking to Anadolu on Thursday at the "International Round Table to Address Genocide in Gaza and Threats to Sacred Sites in the Holy Land," held at Istanbul's historic Ciragan Palace, Weiss said Zionism has become "the textbook translation of antisemitism."
The high-level gathering was organized by the European Muslim Forum with contributions from the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), Türkiye Research Foundation, and the al-Quds International Institution. Its slogan, “Stop genocide, stop occupation, start true Abrahamic cooperation,” reflected the call for unity among faiths in resisting violence and preserving sacred heritage.
Weiss, a leading anti-Zionist Jewish cleric from New York, the US, said the State of Israel and its leaders had created a dangerous situation in which ordinary Jews face hostility for crimes committed in Gaza.
“They are antisemitic, but all the people who are dying for that cause of Zionism that the Zionists have made because people are witnessing this immorality, inhumanity, (and) what is happening to the people in Gaza, and they look at the Jew, and they think… Oh, you are Jewish; you support this. So they get angry at the Jew. They hate the Jew because of this,” he told Anadolu during the exclusive interview.
“What could be more antisemitic than that--that the Zionists are bringing about hate to the Jews for their private, selfish agenda that they want the State? Because they want their state, which is illegal; therefore, Jews around the world get unfortunately clumped into their ideology, which is false. We are not,” Weiss stressed.


- Judaism vs. Zionism
Weiss emphasized that Judaism as a faith and Zionism as a political ideology are fundamentally different. “It is really so simple. Judaism is a religion of over 3,000 years. Zionism was just started around 140 years ago,” he explained.
He described Judaism as a tradition of devotion to God and Torah law, which prohibits killing, stealing, and establishing sovereignty before divine redemption.
“Judaism states clearly that we, since the destruction of the Temple 2,000 years ago, are expressly forbidden to make our own sovereignty. And that is why for 2,000 years Jews never established their own sovereignty. They were capable in 2,000 years of creating the state. It is forbidden for us,” Weiss noted.
By contrast, he said, Zionism is a secular nationalist movement that misrepresents Jewish identity. “So in every concept Zionism is a total misconstruing of what Judaism is, a falsification of what Judaism is,” he said.


- Violence against Jews who oppose Israel
Weiss argued that Israel has persecuted Jews who remain faithful to Torah principles and refuse to serve in the military.
“We don’t carry guns. These are Jewish people observing the Torah. And then brutally beaten old rabbis, young children, they’re arrested because they refused to serve in their own country. And this is what you can witness and see constantly,” he said.
He recalled how the chief rabbi of Palestine in 1947 publicly opposed the creation of a Jewish state, citing UN records.
“Every rabbi, all the leaders, said this is contradictory to Judaism,” Weiss said, referring to the compilation The Rabbis Speak Out, a collection of rabbinic condemnations of Zionism.
According to him, Israel continues to desecrate Jewish heritage while silencing religious opposition.
“Just now, we’ve had in the last three weeks, there is a town called Yehud in occupied Palestine. It used to be hundreds of years ago a Jewish town. Now the Zionists are digging up cemeteries… And when they’re doing it ... you can see the skulls of people there.
“Thousands and thousands of Jews are on the streets demonstrating, and they’re brutally being beaten. Is there a word in the press around the world? If this would happen, God forbid, in the US, Canada, (or) anywhere else in the world, they would yell antisemitism. They’re doing this with impunity,” Weiss charged.


- Opposition to Netanyahu and Israel
When asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Weiss insisted Jewish opposition to Israel is long-standing.
“Tens of thousands of Jews… in front of the White House… stating Netanyahu and the state of Israel doesn’t represent world Jewry. Israel has no right to rule over any part of the Holy Land. The demonstrations were ongoing all the time for over 77 years,” he said.
He added that opposition is often suppressed through violence.
The intimidation and the attacks against Jews were always there. If it were not for that, there would be hundreds of thousands demonstrating, he said, adding: "But they’re being brutally beaten all the time. Rabbis arrested and assassinated.”
Still, Weiss noted that the carnage in Gaza has awakened broader dissent.
“Now there is an added voice of even the Zionists who are watching this carnage in Gaza, and it’s slowly awakening their soul… many others, in the hundreds of thousands around the world, certainly, who are standing up and saying we cannot witness this carnage,” he said.


- Interfaith cooperation against genocide
For Weiss, the path forward requires unity among Jews, Muslims, and Christians.
“It is critical that the Jewish voice, together with the world’s voice of the Arab Muslim world, they should all be together and standing up... Remember always, the difference of religion was never an impediment to coexistence. We were always living together in peace, and that will happen again,” he said.
He condemned the exploitation of the Holocaust by Israeli leaders such as Netanyahu.
“When Netanyahu gets up and he speaks about the Holocaust, they were the ones who were silent by the Holocaust. And they even colluded with the Nazis. My grandparents were killed in Auschwitz. My father-in-law was on the death watch from Auschwitz. They were opposed to Zionism. And the Zionists were silent when this was happening,” Weiss recalled.

- Zionism as 'the greatest antisemitic power'
Weiss concluded by reiterating that Israel is the main source of modern antisemitism.
“So they are the worst enemies of the Jews that can be, as is the Zionist State of Israel. They are the personification of anti-Semitism, the textbook translation of anti-Semitism,” he declared.
The international round table will continue on Friday in Türkiye's southeastern province of Sanliurfa, the birthplace of Prophet Abraham, where participants will further discuss religious cooperation against genocide and the protection of holy sites.