Rabbi Beni Lau Criticizes Religious Zionist Leadership After Terror Attack

Following a severe car-ramming attack near the Makabim checkpoint on Route 443, which critically injured IDF reservist Neria Leiter, Rabbi Beni Lau has issued a strong public critique of the religious Zionist leadership. Leiter, son of Israel's US Ambassador Yehiel Leiter, is being treated at Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Rabbi Lau, in a social media post, expressed shock at the attack and prayed for Leiter's recovery, initially praising the religious Zionist community's dedication. However, he quickly pivoted to criticize what he perceives as the sector's willful blindness to "terrible things happening in the territory of their existence, in eastern Judea and Samaria."

Lau directed his criticism towards figures within the religious Zionist movement, recounting a conversation with a former youth leader who admitted to "holding his nose and voting for the religious Zionist party." Rabbi Lau interpreted this as a metaphor for ignoring all senses, eyes, ears, and heart, to continue supporting leaders he believes are "destroying the home."

He specifically targeted ministers like Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Struk, and MK Zvi Sukkot, asserting their actions are driven not by security concerns but by a desire for "Greater Land of Israel for the people of Israel without any Arab presence." According to Lau, this vision forces the IDF to divert resources from fighting terror to manage "outlaw groups" that drag the country and the army into costly operations.

Rabbi Lau cited the settlement of Homesh as an example of this problematic reality, noting that its leadership quickly moved the approved yeshiva to a new hilltop in Area C, which he views as a deliberate provocation. He concluded that the support from rabbis and ministers for actions that contradict government decisions creates a situation of "offensive governance" where "there is no law, no state, no government, no sovereignty."

Lau ended his post with a call for introspection among religious Zionist voters, urging them to consider if their votes truly strengthen Israel and to "turn away from evil."