Satmar Billionaire Proposes Legal Fight Against Israel to Gur Hasidic Leader

Yoeli Landau, a wealthy figure from the Satmar Hasidic community, met this week with Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the Gur Rebbe and head of Israel's largest Hasidic sect and a leading member of the Agudat Yisrael Council of Torah Sages. During the meeting, Landau offered substantial financial support to ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel to oppose the military conscription law. He suggested filing complaints against Israel at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, citing issues such as arrests of draft refusers, alleged unequal enforcement, discrimination between ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs, and forceful arrests during protests.

Landau proposed establishing a legal aid fund to support yeshiva students facing conscription and pledged to contribute one million dollars alongside his associates to this cause. While Rabbi Alter did not explicitly respond to the offer, he also did not reject it. This meeting is not the first connection between Landau and the Gur leadership; previously, Landau lent his private plane to the Rebbe for fundraising trips to the United States, where the Rebbe sought donations for yeshivas affected by budget cuts due to sanctions.

Earlier, Landau had suggested that the Gur community sever ties with the State of Israel and its budgets, relying instead on donations from external funds, but this proposal was not accepted by Rabbi Alter. The current discussions indicate a potential escalation in the ultra-Orthodox community's resistance to the conscription law, possibly extending the battle to international legal arenas.