“Netanyahu’s Surfside Visit: A Political Spectacle Masquerading as Religion”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the United States for the fifth time, ostensibly to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire. While this visit should have remained strictly diplomatic, he instead chose to use a synagogue in Surfside, Florida as a political stage.

Before a small and unrepresentative gathering of supporters, he delivered an impassioned address urging American Jews to fight antisemitism and to remain unafraid in the face of its onslaught. The most serious concern is not merely the hypocrisy of these words, but the deliberate exploitation of a religious sanctuary for political theater. The attendees were a scattered group not officially belonging to any recognized Orthodox congregation, yet the setting created the dangerous public impression that American Jews as a collective stand behind Mr. Netanyahu’s actions and policies.

It must also be noted that the gathering itself did not follow basic standards of Orthodox Jewish religious practice. Men and women standing together, in direct contradiction to basic requirements of Jewish law. This further underscores that the event bore no resemblance to authentic religious worship and was instead a political spectacle staged in a religious setting.

A video of the event circulated widely on social media, showing attendees welcoming him with the chant “Yumim Al Yemei Melech, long live the king.” This spectacle comes at a moment when Mr. Netanyahu’s actions are under intense international scrutiny and growing opposition. Yet rather than addressing legitimate criticism, he has repeatedly attempted to weaponize such opposition by branding it antisemitism.

This conflation is historically and religiously false. Zionism was forcefully condemned by the leading Torah authorities at its inception. In our own time, major rabbinical bodies followed by large segments of American Jewry have issued strong denunciations of the World Zionist Organization and of Zionism itself. The Central Rabbinical Congress, the most influential umbrella organization for Hasidic Jews, has done the same. To portray this synagogue event as symbolizing religious Jewish support for Zionism is therefore not only inaccurate, but a calculated political maneuver.

For the sake of truth and the protection of our communities, we resolutely reject Zionist efforts that put American Jews at risk.

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Rabbi Moshe Dovid Katz,

Principal, Torah Jews