My work often takes me to the Antwerp diamond quarter (especially the vault buildings) and the sentiment I see there is that your general Jewish person facepalms every time they hear Israel is in the news again and they aren’t happy this makes life more difficult for them by simple association. Most of these people just want to live their lives and have no association, fealty or favor for the country of Israel, beyond the area it resides in hosting holy sites.
Dunno about the traditionally dressed Hasidic Jews in Antwerp though, I’ve been in and around the Diamond Quarter for 25 years now and I don’t think I’ve ever even got as much as a hello or acknowledgement of existence from any of them walking down the street. They seem to be a rather insular bunch.
Pretty much. That and they’re the sort of “I’m an evangelical Christian because my mother was and her mother was” types and don’t think much more about it than that.
My work often takes me to the Antwerp diamond quarter (especially the vault buildings) and the sentiment I see there is that your general Jewish person facepalms every time they hear Israel is in the news again and they aren’t happy this makes life more difficult for them by simple association. Most of these people just want to live their lives and have no association, fealty or favor for the country of Israel, beyond the area it resides in hosting holy sites.
Dunno about the traditionally dressed Hasidic Jews in Antwerp though, I’ve been in and around the Diamond Quarter for 25 years now and I don’t think I’ve ever even got as much as a hello or acknowledgement of existence from any of them walking down the street. They seem to be a rather insular bunch.
Ironically, a lot of Orthodox Jews are anti-Zionists for religious reasons. There are even Hasidic groups that do not recognize Israel as a nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredim_and_Zionism#Groups_which_do_not_recognize_Israel
So they seem to be the good kind of insular. Live and Let Live.
Pretty much. That and they’re the sort of “I’m an evangelical Christian because my mother was and her mother was” types and don’t think much more about it than that.