“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Friday, August 7, 2026

With Friends like the Gerer Rebbe & Yoeli Landau who needs Enemies??

 כן יאבדו כל אויביך השם

 

 Ger Rebbe Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter met this week with New York Satmar businessman Yoeli Landau to discuss creating a multimillion-dollar legal fund to challenge Israel’s enforcement of its military draft law, including filing complaints against the country with international bodies, according to an investigation broadcast by Israel’s Channel 13 News.

The report said Landau, a wealthy member of the anti-Zionist Satmar movement in the United States, proposed financing a legal organization that would represent ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students facing arrest over enlistment orders and pursue complaints before the International Criminal Court in The Hague and other international forums.

According to recordings aired by Channel 13, participants argued that Israel’s enforcement of the draft law discriminates against the ultra-Orthodox community and compared police handling of anti-draft demonstrations with other protests. During the meeting, one participant asked whether, after exhausting legal options in Israel, it was permissible to seek help from foreign authorities. Alter replied that the matter “should be asked of the rabbis.”

Channel 13 said the meeting highlighted growing cooperation between Ger, Israel’s largest Hasidic dynasty and a leading force within the ultra-Orthodox political party United Torah Judaism, and members of the anti-Zionist Satmar movement over opposition to the government’s military conscription policies.

The report drew criticism from opposition lawmakers, who accused the participants of seeking to take Israel’s internal disputes to international institutions. Neither Ger, nor Landau immediately responded publicly to the report.

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