Jerusalem Post [1]/Israel News [2]/Israel Politics [3]"What does it
matter now? What to do now? If we live among the robbers and the robbers
save us, what to do? It's a problem, a big problem," he said.
RABBI LANDO: ZIONISM TO BLAME FOR ARAB HOSTILITY, RELIGIOUS IDF TROOPS
KILLED OVER 'TWISTED TORAH'
UTJ SPIRITUAL LEADER LANDO: '[NATIONAL-RELIGIOUS JEWS] ARE BEING KILLED
BECAUSE THEIR RABBIS TEACH THEM TWISTED TORAH' • LITVAK RABBI SAYS
SECULAR ISRAELIS 'HAVE NO CONNECTION WITH JUDAISM'
Follow us on Google [4] Rabbi Dov Lando attends a wedding in Bnei Brak,
January 15, 2026. (photo credit: SHLOMI COHEN/FLASH90) BySARAH MOSKOWITZ
OCTOBER 5, 2026 22:23 Updated: OCTOBER 6, 2026 09:47
National-Religious Jews serving in the IDF are being killed in wars
because their rabbis "teach them twisted Torah," Rabbi Dov Lando,
leading haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Litvak rabbi and spiritual head of the
United Torah Judaism party [5], said in a leaked recording published by
N12 on Monday night.
Lando, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva, was recorded addressing a small
group of rabbis at his home, where he was heard saying young haredi men
who avoid conscription to the military should not feel remorse over the
sacrifices made by the religious Zionist community [6].
"Those who are getting killed - they are being killed because we don't
learn enough," Lando was recorded as saying. "They are being killed
because their rabbis teach them twisted Torah....They kill people for
honor."
Instead, Lando argued that those studying Torah in yeshivas are the ones
protecting the country's residents. "There is no explanation why Arabs
don't unite to wash away the entire land, and mercifully spare them from
exterminating everyone. There is no explanation [other than the Torah],"
Lando added.
HAREDI SPIRITUAL LEADER: ZIONISM AT FAULT FOR ARAB HOSTILITY
Lando was also recorded during a scathing attack on Zionism, blaming the
movement for hostility from the Arab world. While acknowledging that
Arabs had not historically been friendly toward Jews, he argued that
Zionism had caused them to hate the Jewish people.
"Never in history have Arabs been so hated," he claimed. RABBI DOV LANDO
is watched as he enters a vehicle in Bnei Brak. (credit: YAAKOV
NAUMI/FLASH90)
Addressing the haredi community's relationship with the State of Israel
and the IDF, Lando compared the state to a group of robbers whose
protection the community nevertheless relies on.
"What does it matter now? What to do now? If we live among the robbers
and the robbers save us, what to do? It's a problem, a big problem," he
said.
Lando also condemned secular Israeli society, accusing secular Israelis
of having no connection to Judaism [7] and describing the establishment
of the State of Israel as an act of heresy.
"These are people who have no connection with Judaism, nothing. It's
terrible and horrible, in my opinion, it's a very great blasphemy. That
the people of Israel, who are with God, and have made a state of
annihilation and heresy - this is a great lesson to be learned," he
said.
Looking back to the founding of the Israeli state, Lando also questioned
the need for Jewish sovereignty.
"I don't know what would have happened if at first there was no state
and they had established a UN government here - it would have been an
excellent situation," Lando said. "It would have been quite good if
Arabs ruled here, it would have been the best situation."
EISENKOT: LANDO'S STATEMENTS 'EMBODY ANTI-ZIONIST IN ITS PUREST FORM'
Shortly following the publication of the leaked recording by N12,
opposition party leaders [8] in the bloc seeking to replace Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the October 27 election hit out at
Lando's remarks, vowing that UTJ will not take part in the next
coalition formed after the election.
Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Yashar party, condemned Lando's remarks in a
post on X. "I strongly condemn the slanderous words of Rabbi Lando," he
wrote, adding that his ""outrageous" statements "embody anti-Zionism in
its purest form."
"Netanyahu's government sent our soldiers to battle while relying on
these votes...every Zionist party must declare tonight it would serve
with a faction with such a worldview," Eisenkot added.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Liberman similarly criticized
Lando's position on the haredi draft, vowing that the opposition bloc
will "soon put an end to the rule of the draft dodgers.
"They know how to take money from the state. To serve and defend it?
No," Liberman wrote on X. "Netanyahu has no government without them."
Liberman continued, referring to Lando and haredi lawmakers as
"anti-Zionists who say it would have been better if the State of Israel
had never been established, call Zionists 'robbers' and claim that
fighters of Religious Zionism are dying because of a 'twisted Torah,'"
Liberman added.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the B'Yachad party,
wrote on X that Lando's comments were "anti-Zionist and anti-IDF," while
accusing Finance Minister Bezael Smotrich and Netanyahu of "backing him
and funneling tens of billions of shekels to him and his friends."
"This is Netanyahu's government today, and this is the government he
wants to establish once again," Bennett added.
"We will put an end to this disgrace. Anyone who evades will not receive
a single shekel from the State of Israel. Not a Zionist - not on my
dime."
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-910708?utm_source=activetrail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=October62026
--
Dr abraheim Weizfeld
Ph.D. UQÀM, M.A. York U., B.Sc. UdeW
[email protected]
514-235-7187
Montréal
Links:
------
[1] https://www.jpost.com/
[2] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news
[3] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy
[4] https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=https://www.jpost.com/
[5]
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-907655
[6]
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-903785
[7]
https://www.jpost.com/judaism/why-are-secular-israelis-obsessed-with-traditional-judaism-656018
[8] https://www.jpost.com/israel-election-2026/article-910057
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