Top Haredi rabbi denounces Israeli state, religious soldiers; opposition rebukes him, notes ties to Netanyahu

Rabbi Dov Lando, one of the most influential ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel, lamented the establishment of the State of Israel and launched a broadside against Zionism, the country and Religious Zionist and secular Jews, according to newly released footage.

Lando, 96, the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah faction of the United Torah Judaism party, wields significant political influence because UTJ is a key partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. His pronouncements have swayed debates about legislation regarding Haredi military service — which he adamantly opposes — and the stability of the government.

He has castigated Religious Zionists and the state before. But in the new video, aired Monday by Channel 12 news and recorded about a year and a half ago, according to the network, appears to be his most extensive condemnation of Israel and most of its Jewish population.

Opposition politicians condemned the remarks as anti-Zionist and antisemitic, highlighted Lando’s longtime ties with Netanyahu, and called on other parties to boycott UTJ three weeks ahead of the October 27 election. Netanyahu does not appear to have commented on the video.

The video, several minutes long, is filmed as Lando is sitting at a large table at home, speaking to what appears to be a group of aides. One of them asks him about ultra-Orthodox admiration for the Religious Zionist community and its melding of religious observance with military service, seemingly prompting his remarks.

Lando said Zionism “made Arabs hate us” and that the ideology brought “physical disasters” upon the Jewish people. He derided the Jewish observance of Religious Zionists and said secular Jews lack a connection to Judaism. He called Zionists “thieves.”

“I don’t know what would have happened if, at the beginning of the state — if there had been no state and they would have installed the UN as sovereign,”  he said. “The situation would have been excellent.”

He added, “It’s possible, without a state [of Israel], to live well with the Arabs… To live, to respect the Arabs. It was pretty good when the Arabs were in charge. It was the best situation.”

He continued, “We’d bring money to the Land of Israel. The Arabs like money, yes?”

But now, he said Zionists “made Arabs hate us. The Arabs were never good, but you had to respect them.” At one point, he appears to endorse the idea of territorial concessions as part of a peace deal with Israel’s Arab neighbors, though he also said, “You can’t trust them anymore.”

While Zionism was meant to save Jews, he said, Zionists “brought the physical disasters, not just the spiritual ones, to the Jewish people.”

Accuses Religious Zionists of ‘distorted’ Judaism

Stating a longstanding Haredi belief, he said that Torah study is what maintains the Jewish people and is why “the Arabs have not united and washed over all of Israel and destroyed everyone.”

Religious Zionists, on the other hand, follow a skewed version of Judaism, Lando posited.

“They’re killed because their rabbis teach them a distorted Torah,” Lando said of fallen Religious Zionist soldiers. He added that those soldiers do not fight for the right reasons, but rather “for the honor of the state. They kill people for honor.”

Of secular Israelis, he said, “They have no connection to Judaism at all. It’s terrible.”

He added, “The Jewish people are the people of God, and they created a state of destruction and heresy.”

Lando has made inflammatory comments before. In July, he accused Religious Zionist soldiers of “murder,” drawing a rare critique from Netanyahu. In January, he said that those who enforce military draft orders for Haredi men are fighting God and the Torah.

Eisenkot, Bennett, Lapid condemn remarks

The leaders of the anti-Netanyahu parties harshly condemned Lando’s remarks and demanded that UTJ be shut out of Israel’s next government.

“I forcefully condemn Rabbi Lando’s slanderous words,” frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot, head of the centrist Yashar party, posted on X. “His remarks are the embodiment of anti-Zionism.”

He added, “One can only blush at the unfortunate fact that the Netanyahu government sent our combat soldiers to battle and to make the ultimate sacrifice, while relying on voices like these.”

He wrote that every Zionist party should commit publicly to not joining a coalition with Lando’s party. That call was echoed by Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, who called Lando’s words “a disgrace to every Jew.”

Naftali Bennett, who heads the B’Yachad party, accused Lando of being antisemitic.

“Rabbi Lando’s statements are antisemitic, anti-Zionist, against the IDF,” Bennett wrote.

Netanyahu and far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party, Bennett wrote, “back him up and give him and his friends tens of billions of shekels. This is Netanyahu’s government today, and this is the government he wants to form again.”

Without the sacrifices of religious soldiers, Bennett added, “our enemies would slaughter us all, including Rabbi Lando’s yeshiva students.”

Yair Golan, head of the left-wing Democrats party, posted, “These are Netanyahu’s natural partners. This is the face of his government.”

He added, “And Netanyahu is silent because without Rabbi Lando and his emissaries, he has no government. His political survival is more important to him than Zionism, more than equality in service and more than the blood of our soldiers.”