Ultra-Orthodox rabbi’s anti-Zionist remarks stir Israel election row

Rabbi Dov Lando’s comments expose tensions over Zionism, conscription and Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox allies.

Men pray during a demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews against Israel's military draft on June 17, 2026, outside the Beit Lid military base in Kfar Yona, Israel [Amir Levy/Getty Images]

Comments by one of Israel’s most senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis postulating that Jews may have been better off without a state have prompted controversy in the country.

In footage broadcast by Channel 12 on Monday, the 96-year-old Rabbi Dov Lando, the spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party, also said that soldiers adhering to “Religious Zionism” killed in Israel’s wars were dying because of what their rabbis had taught them. The remarks, made at a closed meeting at his home in Bnei Brak, have set off a political storm three weeks before Israel’s October 27 parliamentary election.

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“They are killed because their rabbis teach them a distorted Torah,” Lando said, adding that many military operations are carried out “not for saving lives, but for the honour of the state”.

Lando’s comment came in response to a question about admiration among some ultra-Orthodox Jewish men – who have traditionally refused the military draft – for religious Zionists who combine Torah study with military service.

His comments aren’t new – they were first published in February 2025. However, their reemergence this week comes amid an election campaign in which ultra-Orthodox military service has become one of the sharpest fault lines in Israeli politics.

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that there was no legal basis for ultra-Orthodox seminary students to have exemptions from military service , and the government has since not been able to pass legislation restoring the exemptions. The issue has led to large protests on both sides of the divide.

“The question is not what he said, but why this discourse has been placed at the heart of the Israeli debate three weeks before the election,” Ehab Jabareen, a researcher on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Better ‘without a state’

Lando’s party is one of the two factions of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) alliance, which won seven seats during the last election in 2022, and had been part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government before its ministers resigned last year.

The bloc did continue to intermittently support the coalition government, however, and Netanyahu has been wary of removing the military exemption – despite widespread opposition to it from many in Israel – out of fear that the UTJ and similar parties would remove their support completely.

Along with his role within Degel HaTorah, Lando is also one of the spiritual leaders of Israel’s Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community , which makes up roughly a third of the country’s estimated 1.45 million ultra-Orthodox Jews, also known as Haredim.

In May, he said he no longer trusted Netanyahu and called for parliament to be dissolved.

In the footage, he goes further. “It is possible to live well with the Arabs without a state,” he says, adding that international or Palestinian rule would have been “the best situation”.

Zionism, he argues, “caused the Arabs to hate us” and brought physical as well as spiritual disaster on the Jewish people. He describes secular Israelis as having built “a state of apostasy and heresy”.

The comments reflect non-Zionist and anti-Zionist positions that used to be dominant within ultra-Orthodox Judaism, but take on an overt reference to the possibility of living within a non-Zionist state, something that is even more controversial in Israel.

Ibrahim Khatib, a conflict studies scholar at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said Lando’s remarks drew a line between Zionism and Judaism “from inside the Jewish community itself”, at a time when the official Israeli establishment “tries to bind them together”.

They also put to the test the narrative that Jewish communities in Arab societies were in danger and threatened, and that the Zionist movement came to “save them” at the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, he told Al Jazeera. However, Khatib cautioned that the ultra-Orthodox polity in Israel “is right-wing, its leaders hold right-wing positions, and some of them have made clearly offensive statements about Arabs and Palestinians”.

Political ammunition

Israeli opposition leaders moved quickly after the footage of Lando emerged this week, taking it as an opportunity to attack a figure from a party within Netanyahu’s electoral bloc.

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – one of Netanyahu’s main challengers in the upcoming elections – called the remarks “anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-[Israeli military]”, but aimed his fire at Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who he said “back [Lando] and funnel tens of billions of shekels to him and his friends”.

Gadi Eisenkot, another opposition leader whose Yashar party has campaigned on enforcing the military draft, urged every Zionist party to pledge not to sit with Lando’s party.

Netanyahu, who publicly rejected Lando’s remarks in July when the rabbi accused the Religious Zionism movement of “incitement to murder” for its support of the drafting of religious seminary students to the military, has not yet commented.

Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, put it bluntly: “Netanyahu is silent because without Rabbi Lando and his emissaries, he has no government.”

Jabareen sees Netanyahu’s silence as “calculated”.

“If Netanyahu attacks Lando forcefully, he pays a price with the Haredim he needs to form a government,” he said. “If he stays silent, he hands his rivals material to tell right-wing voters that the man who speaks of Zionism and security depends on a religious leadership that doubts Zionism itself.”

Who fights and who dies

The military draft of the ultra-Orthodox, Jabareen added, has turned “from an old dispute over religion and state into a question about the Israeli [social] contract itself: Who fights? Who dies? And who gets the exemptions, the budgets and the political influence in return?”

Mohammad Abu Rumman, an academic adviser at the Politics and Society Institute in Amman, said the significance of Lando’s remarks lay in the question that prompted them. The example of a young religious man who combines Torah study with military service, he said, “raises a question inside the ultra-Orthodox world itself: Why don’t we do the same?”

“When Lando describes their teaching as a distorted Torah, he is trying to close the door on emulating them,” Abu Rumman told Al Jazeera. “His words are aimed at his own audience as much as at his opponents.”

But Jabareen argued that the row exposes a rift more dangerous for Netanyahu than the familiar clash between secular and religious Israelis, because it runs through the right itself. Religious Zionists have paid a heavy human price in the war, while the ultra-Orthodox leadership still rejects conscription. Caught between those who pay the price of war and those who refuse to, Netanyahu needs both, and cannot satisfy them at once.

Whether the outrage over Lando’s comments translates into votes is less clear. Abu Rumman expects the remarks to “reinforce existing positions more than change voters’ choices”. The space where they could matter, he said, lies among right-wing voters who serve in the army and resent Netanyahu’s protection of ultra-Orthodox demands.

“If Netanyahu needs these parties to build a majority, that need will not disappear because of a rabbi’s remarks, however shocking,” Abu Rumman said. Netanyahu is also not the UTJ’s only suitor: Channel 12 reported that, frustrated by his failure to secure a law exempting ultra-Orthodox men from military service, the party would not rule out or oppose a government led by Eisenkot.

“The Israeli right has managed to bring under one political roof two currents with almost contradictory visions of the Jewish state,” Jabareen said. “One sanctifies the state and the expansion of its sovereignty. In the other, one of its most important rabbis can say it might have been better had the state never been founded.”

拉比多夫·兰多的言论暴露了围绕犹太复国主义、征兵制和内塔尼亚胡的极端正统派盟友之间的紧张关系。

2026年6月17日，在以色列卡法约纳的贝特利德军事基地外，极端正统犹太教徒举行示威活动，反对以色列的兵役征召，男子们在示威活动中祈祷。[Amir Levy/Getty Images]

以色列一位资深极端正统派拉比发表的言论——他认为犹太人如果没有建国可能会过得更好——在该国引发了争议。

以色列第12频道周一播出的画面显示，96岁的多夫·兰多拉比（Dov Lando）是“托拉之光”（Degel HaTorah）党的精神领袖。他在讲话中称，那些在以色列战争中阵亡的信奉“宗教犹太复国主义”的士兵，是因为他们所受的拉比教导而丧命。兰多拉比是在位于布内布拉克（Bnei Brak）的家中举行的一次闭门会议上发表这番言论的，距离以色列10月27日的议会选举仅剩三周，此番言论引发了一场政治风暴。

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兰多说：“他们被杀害是因为他们的拉比教给他们歪曲的《托拉》。”他还补充说，许多军事行动“不是为了拯救生命，而是为了维护国家荣誉”。

兰多发表这番评论是为了回应一个问题，这个问题是关于一些极端正统犹太教男子（他们历来拒绝服兵役）对那些将研习《托拉》与服兵役结合起来的宗教犹太复国主义者的钦佩之情。

他的言论并非新内容——最早发表于2025年2月。然而，这些言论在本周再次出现，正值以色列大选之际，而极端正统派的兵役问题已成为以色列政治中最尖锐的分歧之一。

以色列最高法院于2024年裁定，极端正统派神学院学生没有法律依据免服兵役，此后政府一直未能通过立法恢复这项豁免。该问题引发了双方的大规模抗议。

“问题不在于他说了什么，而在于为什么在选举前三周，这种言论会成为以色列辩论的核心，”以色列事务研究员伊哈卜·贾巴林告诉半岛电视台。

最好“没有国家”

兰多的政党是联合托拉犹太教（UTJ）联盟的两个派别之一，该联盟在 2022 年的上次选举中赢得了七个席位，并且曾是以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡政府的一部分，直到去年其部长们辞职。

然而，该联盟仍然断断续续地支持联合政府，而内塔尼亚胡一直对取消军事豁免权持谨慎态度——尽管以色列许多人对此表示反对——因为他担心联合托拉犹太教党和类似政党会完全撤回他们的支持。

除了在 Degel HaTorah 担任职务外，兰多还是以色列立陶宛极端正统派犹太社区的精神领袖之一，该社区约占以色列 145 万极端正统派犹太人（又称哈雷迪人）的三分之一。

今年5月，他表示不再信任内塔尼亚胡，并呼吁解散议会。

在视频中，他进一步说道：“即使没有国家，也可以与阿拉伯人和平共处。”他还补充说，国际社会或巴勒斯坦的统治将是“最好的情况”。

他认为，犹太复国主义“导致阿拉伯人憎恨我们”，并给犹太民族带来了物质和精神上的双重灾难。他形容世俗的以色列人建立了一个“背教和异端的国家”。

这些评论反映了过去在极端正统犹太教中占主导地位的非犹太复国主义和反犹太复国主义立场，但其中明确提到了生活在非犹太复国主义国家的可能性，这在以色列更具争议性。

多哈研究生院冲突研究学者易卜拉欣·哈提卜表示，兰多的言论“从犹太社区内部”划清了犹太复国主义和犹太教之间的界限，而此时以色列官方机构却“试图将二者联系在一起”。

哈提卜告诉半岛电视台，他们也检验了这样一种说法：阿拉伯社会中的犹太社群处于危险和威胁之中，而犹太复国主义运动在1948年以色列建国时是为了“拯救”他们。然而，哈提卜也提醒说，以色列的极端正统派政治“是右翼的，其领导人持有右翼立场，其中一些人曾发表过明显冒犯阿拉伯人和巴勒斯坦人的言论”。

政治弹药

本周兰多的视频曝光后，以色列反对派领导人迅速采取行动，以此为契机攻击内塔尼亚胡选举联盟内某个政党的代表人物。

前总理纳夫塔利·贝内特（Naftali Bennett）——内塔尼亚胡在即将到来的选举中的主要挑战者之一——称这些言论“反犹太主义、反犹太复国主义和反以色列军队”，但他将矛头指向内塔尼亚胡和财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇（Bezalel Smotrich），他说他们“支持兰多，并向他和他的朋友们输送数百亿谢克尔”。

另一位反对派领导人加迪·艾森科特（Gadi Eisenkot）领导的亚沙尔党（Yashar）一直以强制征兵为竞选纲领，他敦促所有犹太复国主义政党承诺不与兰多的政党结盟。

内塔尼亚胡曾公开驳斥兰多在7月份的言论，当时这位拉比指责宗教犹太复国主义运动支持征召宗教神学院学生入伍是“煽动谋杀”，但内塔尼亚胡至今尚未对此发表评论。

民主党领袖亚伊尔·戈兰直言不讳地说：“内塔尼亚胡保持沉默，是因为没有兰多拉比和他的使者，他就没有政府。”

贾巴林认为内塔尼亚胡的沉默是“精心策划的”。

他说：“如果内塔尼亚胡强力攻击兰多，他将失去组建政府所需的哈雷迪派支持，为此付出代价。如果他保持沉默，他就会给对手提供素材，让他们告诉右翼选民，一个高谈阔论犹太复国主义和安全的人，竟然依赖于一个对犹太复国主义本身都抱有怀疑的宗教领袖。”

谁战斗，谁死亡

贾巴林补充说，极端正统派的兵役征召问题已经“从一场关于宗教与国家的古老争论，演变成一个关于以色列（社会）契约本身的问题：谁去战斗？谁去牺牲？谁又能从中获得豁免、预算和政治影响力？”

安曼政治与社会研究所的学术顾问穆罕默德·阿布·鲁曼表示，兰多言论的意义在于其引发的问题。他说，一位年轻的宗教人士将研习《托拉》与服兵役结合起来的例子，“在极端正统派世界内部引发了一个问题：为什么我们不效仿呢？”

阿布·鲁曼告诉半岛电视台：“兰多将他们的教义描述为歪曲的《托拉》时，他是在试图阻止人们效仿他们。他的话既是针对他的反对者，也是针对他自己的听众。”

但贾巴林认为，这场争论暴露出的裂痕对内塔尼亚胡而言比世俗派和宗教派以色列人之间常见的冲突更为危险，因为它贯穿了右翼内部。宗教犹太复国主义者在战争中付出了沉重的人员伤亡代价，而极端正统派领导层仍然拒绝征兵。内塔尼亚胡夹在那些为战争付出代价的人和那些拒绝付出代价的人之间，他需要同时满足这两方的需求，却无法做到。

兰多言论引发的愤怒能否转化为选票尚不明朗。阿布·鲁曼预计，这些言论“与其说是改变选民的选择，不如说是强化了现有立场”。他表示，这些言论可能产生影响的群体是那些在军队服役、对内塔尼亚胡维护极端正统派诉求感到不满的右翼选民。

阿布·鲁曼表示：“如果内塔尼亚胡需要这些政党来组建多数派，那么即使一位拉比的言论令人震惊，这种需求也不会消失。” 内塔尼亚胡并非联合托拉犹太教党（UTJ）唯一的支持者：第12频道报道称，由于未能推动一项豁免极端正统派男性兵役的法律，该党感到沮丧，因此并未排除或反对由艾森科特领导的政府。

贾巴林说：“以色列右翼成功地将两种对犹太国家愿景几乎截然相反的思潮融合到同一个政治阵营中。一种思潮崇尚国家及其主权扩张，而另一种思潮中，一位最重要的拉比却认为，如果以色列从未建立，情况或许会更好。”