World
Anti-Zionist Remarks by Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Rattle Israeli Politics
Rabbi Dov Lando, 96, spiritual leader of the Degel HaTorah party, suggested Jews might have lived better without a state and said soldiers killed in Israel's wars die because their rabbis teach a "distorted Torah." The resurfaced remarks, first published in February 2025, have ignited a fierce debate three weeks before the October 27 election, exposing fractures in Prime Minister Netanyahu's right-wing coalition over ultra-Orthodox military exemptions.