Chabad and Israeli politics - Revision history

Chabad Bot: Add Shindler (2015) and Hirschhorn (2017) on the Rebbe, Begin, 1990, Netanyahu, Efrat and Tekoa

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2026-10-16T09:29:18Z

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Chabad Bot: New page: Chabad and Israeli politics (territorial concessions, Who is a Jew, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2005, critics)

2026-10-16T09:24:10Z

New page: Chabad and Israeli politics (territorial concessions, Who is a Jew, 1988, 1990, 1996, 2005, critics)

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{{Chabad sidebar}}
{{short description|The Chabad-Lubavitch movement's involvement in Israeli politics, from the Rebbe's opposition to territorial concessions to the 1996 "Bibi is good for the Jews" campaign}}

{{Infobox
| bodystyle = float:right; clear:right; width:22em; margin:0 0 1em 1em; background:#f9f9f9; border:1px solid #aaa;
| title = Chabad and Israeli politics
| image = 
| label1 = Key figure | data1 = [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]] (Rebbe 1951–1994)
| label2 = Core positions | data2 = Opposition to territorial concessions ("not one inch"); "Who is a Jew" amendment to the Law of Return
| label3 = Key episodes | data3 = 1988 election (Agudat Yisrael); 1990 "dirty trick"; 1996 "Bibi is good for the Jews"; 2005 Gaza disengagement protests
| label4 = Israeli centre | data4 = [[Kfar Chabad]]
| label5 = See also | data5 = [[Chabad messianism]]; [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]]; [[Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva]]
}}

'''Chabad and Israeli politics''' covers the involvement of the [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement]] in the politics of the State of Israel. Formally non-Zionist, the movement became under its seventh Rebbe, [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], one of the most politically assertive [[Haredi]] groups on Israeli affairs, despite his never visiting Israel. The scholar [[Aviezer Ravitzky]] writes that Chabad Hasidim, "despite their full commitment to their traditional non-Zionist stance ... repeatedly call upon the government of Israel to adopt a clear-cut hawkish policy, to oppose any territorial concessions, and to manifest a firm Jewish stance toward the nations of the world".<ref name="Ravitzky183">Aviezer Ravitzky, ''Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996), p. 183.</ref> The movement's main interventions were the "Who is a Jew" campaign and the 1988 election; the 1990 collapse of [[Shimon Peres]]'s attempt to form a government; the 1996 "Bibi is good for the Jews" campaign; and, after the Rebbe's death, activism against the 2005 Gaza disengagement.

== From anti-Zionism to political engagement ==
The fifth and sixth Rebbes opposed Zionism. Ravitzky records that in 1900 [[Shalom Dovber Schneersohn]] "ruled that even if the Zionists strictly followed God's commandments, the Torah-faithful Jew is forbidden to join them", and that [[Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn]] opposed "all secular activity and mundane labor in Eretz Israel".<ref name="Ravitzky173">Ravitzky, ''Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism'', pp. 173–174.</ref> Under Menachem Mendel Schneerson this changed. He "granted explicit legitimacy to collective political and military Jewish organization in the Holy Land", and after the Six-Day War he "publicly stated that the merit of those who participated in the war was even greater than that of those who studied Torah".<ref name="Ravitzky173" /> Ravitzky concludes that Chabad "has moved in practice (if not in theory)" from greater separation from Zionism to "maintaining more contact with the Zionists and their leaders than do other contemporary Haredi circles".<ref name="Ravitzky173" />

The Rebbe, Ravitzky writes, "tended to intervene regularly in the general affairs of the state on a broad agenda of issues, ranging from religio-national identity (Who is a Jew?) to foreign affairs and security".<ref name="Ravitzky161">Ravitzky, ''Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism'', pp. 160–161.</ref> Ravitzky quotes Aharon Dov Halperin, editor of the Chabad journal ''Kfar Chabad'', who summed up the movement's stance as "total opposition to Zionism and nationalism, coupled with a stringent prohibition against handing over a single inch of the territory that the Lord granted us".<ref name="Ravitzky173" />

== Opposition to territorial concessions ==
The Rebbe opposed returning territory captured in 1967. A reference entry states that he "adopted a rigid position on the question of Israel's occupied territories" and "opposed the Camp David accords (1979), which returned the Sinai to Egypt", and that he later "condemned the Oslo accords (1993), which he feared would lead Israel to cede land to the Palestinians".<ref name="IESS">"Schneerson, Menachem Mendel", ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences'' (2nd edn, 2008), via [https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/schneerson-menachem-mendel Encyclopedia.com].</ref> Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, writing from an explicitly anti-Zionist and polemical position, add that "in 1974 he strongly opposed the Israeli withdrawal from the Suez area" and that from 1967 "the Lubovitcher Rebbe always supported Israeli wars and opposed any retreat". They also say that in the mid-1970s he shifted support from Labor "sometimes to Likud and sometimes to a religious party", with [[Ariel Sharon]] as "the Rebbe's favorite Israeli senior politician".<ref name="Shahak61">Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, ''Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel'' (London: Pluto Press, new edn 2004), p. 61. Polemical source.</ref>

=== The ''pikuach nefesh'' argument ===
Chabad presents the Rebbe's position as a matter of saving life (''pikuach nefesh'') rather than the holiness of the land. A Chabad.org essay "based on the teachings of the Rebbe" cites ''Shulchan Aruch'', Orach Chayim 329. It argues that "Giving up territory will make you more vulnerable to attack. To give up territory in return for a promise of 'peace' is not just a reckless gamble of your and your people's lives — it's a gamble that you're sure to lose." It adds: "The holiness of the land is not the issue ... The issue is pikuach nefesh, saving lives."<ref name="Tauber">Yanki Tauber, [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/82019/jewish/Land-for-Peace.htm "Land for Peace?"], Chabad.org, 4 July 2003. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> The JTA noted in 1990 that the Rebbe's "decades-long position has been that Israel should not surrender 'one inch' of territory", a stance "at odds not only with the Labor Party but with some of the most revered Torah sages in Israel, who uphold the primacy of saving lives over territorial sovereignty".<ref name="JTA1990">[https://www.jta.org/archive/rebbes-influence-blamed-for-labors-failure-to-form-governing-coalition "Rebbe's Influence Blamed for Labor's Failure to Form Governing Coalition"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', April 1990.</ref>

:''Editor's note: the Chabad slogan of "the wholeness of the land" (''shleimut ha'aretz'') is widely used in Chabad campaigns, but no verified primary text by the Rebbe defining it has been cited here yet.''

== "Who is a Jew" and the 1988 election ==
The Rebbe campaigned for decades to amend the [[Law of Return]] so that only conversions performed according to [[halakha]] (in practice, Orthodox conversions) would be recognised. He did not succeed.<ref name="IESS" /> In the November 1988 Knesset election he backed the ultra-Orthodox [[Agudat Yisrael]]. The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported from Kfar Chabad that "Schneerson, 86, sent videotaped instructions to his followers ... to vote for Agudat Israel" and that "Habad spent $1 million in 12 days of campaigning on Agudat's behalf, followers say. The rabbi's campaigners promised blessings to voters." Agudat Yisrael doubled its vote and won five seats.<ref name="LAT1988">Daniel Williams, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-11-26-mn-106-story.html "Tremors in Israeli Political Life Emanate From, of All Places, Brooklyn"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 26 November 1988.</ref> Ravitzky likewise writes that in 1988 Chabad's "intense activity had a decisive role in the surprising success" of Agudat Yisrael.<ref name="Ravitzky182">Ravitzky, ''Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism'', pp. 182–183.</ref> The head of Chabad in Israel, Arye (Leon) Kaplan, told the paper that the Rebbe wanted to fight assimilation "through the 'Who Is a Jew' law": "You can buy a conversion for $25 in California ... If we don't want to have a split in Judaism, we must make conversions uniform."<ref name="LAT1988" />

The religious parties' demand to amend the law in return for joining a Likud coalition provoked the sharpest rift until then between Israel and American Jewry. Labor's secretary-general Uzi Baram called it "the first time, the first time ever" that Israel had seen such a rift with American Jews.<ref name="NYT1988">[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/19/world/angry-american-jews-press-shamir-on-who-is-a-jew-law.html "Angry American Jews Press Shamir on 'Who Is a Jew' Law"], ''New York Times'', 19 November 1988.</ref> At the Council of Jewish Federations convention a Holocaust survivor declared: "I came out of Auschwitz, a place where they decided 'who is a Jew' ... I didn't think I was going to live to see the day when it was decided in Israel."<ref name="NYT1988b">[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/03/world/who-is-a-jew-debate-in-israel-attracts-leading-figures-of-us-judaism.html "'Who Is a Jew?' Debate in Israel Attracts Leading Figures of U.S. Judaism"], ''New York Times'', 3 December 1988.</ref> The reference entry notes that "many of Schneerson's opponents on this issue were Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders in the United States, some of whom were financial backers of the Lubavitch movement".<ref name="IESS" /> Shamir eventually formed a national unity government with Labor in December 1988, and the amendment was not passed.

== The 1990 "dirty trick" ==
In March 1990 Labor leader [[Shimon Peres]] brought down [[Yitzhak Shamir]]'s unity government over the Baker plan for talks with Palestinians, then tried to form a Labor-led coalition with ultra-Orthodox support. The episode became known in Israel as ''ha-targil ha-masriach'' ("the stinking trick"). On 11 April, as the Knesset gathered for the confidence vote, two Agudat Yisrael members, Avraham Verdiger and Eliezer Mizrachi, withdrew, leaving Peres "two votes short of a majority".<ref name="NYT1990">[https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/12/world/israeli-coalition-cracks-at-last-minute.html "Israeli Coalition Cracks at Last Minute"], ''New York Times'', 12 April 1990.</ref> The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported "a spate of reports over the weekend" that Schneerson had "ordered two followers in Agudat to oppose Peres".<ref name="LAT1990">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-12-mn-1422-story.html "2 Defectors Stall Peres' Move for Israeli Coalition"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 12 April 1990.</ref> Shamir went on to form a right-wing government in June 1990.

Chabad denied direct responsibility. The Rebbe's spokesman, Rabbi [[Yehuda Krinsky]], called him "apolitical" and said of the two MKs: "They did not speak to the rebbe." He conceded, however, that Verdiger had called Lubavitch headquarters to ask whether the Rebbe still opposed ceding territory, and that the two could then "deduce that the rebbe would be opposed to a party that had on its agenda the surrender of territories".<ref name="JTA1990" /> ''Time'' wrote that "the defection was manufactured by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson", while noting the spokesmen's version.<ref name="Time1990">[https://time.com/archive/6714667/israel-who-was-that-bearded-man/ "Israel: Who Was That Bearded Man?"], ''Time'', April 1990.</ref>

American Jewish reaction was sharp. Rabbi Alexander Schindler of the Reform movement said that "Rabbi Schneerson, sitting in his study on (Brooklyn's) Eastern Parkway, decided that Agudat Yisrael would not participate in the proposed government", and asked "How can a religious leader in good conscience reject the idea of moving toward peace when the young men in his own movement are exempted from military service".<ref name="JTA1990" /> Rabbi Allan Nadler told ''Time'': "It's a disgrace; it's completely disgusting."<ref name="Time1990" /> Ravitzky says Agudat representatives in 1990 "played a central part in determining the fate of the parliamentary coalition and of the new government".<ref name="Ravitzky182" />

== 1996: "Bibi is good for the Jews" ==
After the Rebbe's death in 1994 and the assassination of [[Yitzhak Rabin]] in 1995, Chabad activists campaigned against Peres in the 1996 direct election for prime minister. According to the reference entry, "the Lubavitch movement put up thousands of posters with the words 'Bibi Is Good for the Jews'".<ref name="IESS" /> The ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that the slogan drew "charges of racism". Likud campaign chief [[Tzachi Hanegbi]] responded: "now we hear that in the Jewish sector the absolute majority of Jews believe Netanyahu is good for the Jews and I believe the absolute majority of Jews are not racist."<ref name="LAT1996">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-30-mn-10090-story.html "Netanyahu Takes the Slimmest of Leads Over Peres"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 30 May 1996.</ref> The campaign was bankrolled by the Australian mining magnate and Chabad rabbi [[Joseph Gutnick]].<ref name="JPost2022">[https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-715403 "Grapevine August 24, 2022: Influencing history"], ''Jerusalem Post'', 24 August 2022.</ref> A ''Jerusalem Post'' op-ed called it "a racist election campaign ... funded by Australian mining magnate and Chabad rabbi Joseph Gutnick, and energetically backed by the Lubavitch movement". It said Netanyahu won "by a margin of 29,457 votes".<ref name="JPostOped">[https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Netanyahu-and-the-haredim "Netanyahu and the haredim"], ''Jerusalem Post'' (op-ed).</ref> Shahak and Mezvinsky write that Chabad followers "played an important role in Netanyahu's election victory by demonstrating at many cross-road junctions". They add that the followers later criticised him "for meeting with Arafat, signing the Hebron agreement and agreeing to a second withdrawal".<ref name="Shahak61" />

== 2005 Gaza disengagement ==
After the Rebbe's death, opposition to territorial withdrawal continued, but mainstream Chabad institutions became more cautious. In 2005 the ''Forward'' reported that "Chabad activists have emerged as some of the most militant opponents of disengagement in Israel", while "the central leadership in the United States ... has avoided organizing an official campaign against it".<ref name="Forward2005a">[https://forward.com/news/2580/pullout-critics-in-us-draw-few-backers/ "Pullout Critics In U.S. Draw Few Backers"], ''Forward'', 2005.</ref> A June 2005 rally at Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights was "dominated by a faction of the Chabad community that believes that the movement's late rebbe ... will return to life as the messiah". There, "leaders of mainstream Chabad institutions have made efforts to distance themselves".<ref name="Forward2005b">[https://forward.com/news/3720/hasidim-rally-against-disengagement/ "Hasidim Rally Against Disengagement"], ''Forward'', 2005.</ref> Rabbi Avraham Hecht attacked the leadership: "When I read that the Lubavitch took a position that we're not to get involved, it went against everything I know ... This is deportation, not disengagement."<ref name="Forward2005c">Jennifer Siegel, [https://forward.com/news/3819/speech-reflects-chabad-split/ "Speech Reflects Chabad Split"], ''Forward'', 15 July 2005.</ref> At a Manhattan rally organised partly by the Chabad group Pikuach Nefesh, Rabbi Aaron Raskin explained the official reticence: "The rebbe wanted it to be a Jewish campaign [not only a Chabad campaign]".<ref name="CHinfo">[https://crownheights.info/general/314/raising-their-voice-against-the-pullout/ "Raising Their Voice Against The Pullout"], CrownHeights.info (Chabad community news site).</ref> See also [[Chabad messianism]].

== Settlements, the army and Hebron ==
[[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" />

Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that "among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups". They name [[Baruch Goldstein]] and [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]].<ref name="Shahak61" />
:''Editor's note: Shahak and Mezvinsky are polemical. Goldstein's Chabad affiliation is disputed and is not confirmed here by an independent source. Ginsburgh's Chabad identity and his Yitzhar yeshiva are covered, with sources, at [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh]] and [[Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva]]. The [[Hilltop Youth]] come mainly from Religious Zionist and Kahanist circles rather than Chabad.''

== Netanyahu in later years ==
Netanyahu has repeatedly said the Rebbe inspired him. Chabad.org reports that after his 2009 UN speech he recalled a 1984 meeting at 770 Eastern Parkway, when he was ambassador to the UN. He said the Rebbe told him: "Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, totally dark, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar ... Your mission is to light a candle for truth and the Jewish people."<ref name="Chabad2009">Joshua Runyan and Avi Webb, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/997213/jewish/Rebbes-Charge-Informs-PMs-Speech.htm "Israeli Prime Minister: International Affairs Require Light of Truth"], Chabad.org, 27 September 2009. Chabad-side primary source.</ref>
:''Editor's note: Chabad's relations with Netanyahu's later governments (2009–2021, 2022–) are not documented here from independent sources.''

== Critical perspectives ==
* '''Diaspora interference.''' In 1988 and 1990 American Jewish leaders across the denominations objected to a Brooklyn-based rebbe shaping Israeli coalitions. Seymour Reich of the Conference of Presidents called it "reprehensible for anyone in the Diaspora to interfere with the Israeli political system", without naming the Rebbe.<ref name="RIJHA1990">"Volunteers of America" (JTA report), ''Rhode Island Jewish Herald'', 19 April 1990, [https://rijha.org/wp-content/uploads/voiceandherald/1990/1990-04-19.pdf PDF].</ref>
* '''Military service.''' Schindler's charge that the Rebbe rejected peace moves while his movement's yeshiva students were exempt from military service (above).<ref name="JTA1990" />
* '''Religious radicalism.''' Ravitzky argues that Chabad "clearly rejects such concepts as liberalism, pluralism, and universal human equality" while displaying "a dynamic and activist attitude" unmatched in Haredi Judaism.<ref name="Ravitzky183" />
* '''Anti-Zionist critique.''' Shahak and Mezvinsky (polemical) set Chabad within "Jewish fundamentalism" alongside Gush Emunim and the National Religious Party.<ref name="Shahak61" />
:''Editor's note: Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, ''The Rebbe'' (Princeton, 2010), Yitzhak Kraus, ''The Seventh'' (2007), David Berger and Rachel Elior discuss Chabad messianism and politics. Their specific passages on Israeli politics have not been checked against the texts and are not cited here.''

== See also ==
* [[Chabad messianism]]
* [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]]
* [[Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva]]
* [[Hilltop Youth]]
* [[Kfar Chabad]]
* [[Chabad in occupied Palestine]]

==Notes==
<references>
</references>

[[Category:Chabad-Lubavitch|Israeli politics]]
[[Category:Israeli politics|Chabad]]
[[Category:Menachem Mendel Schneerson|Israeli politics]]

@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 * '''Religious radicalism.''' Ravitzky argues that Chabad "clearly rejects such concepts as liberalism, pluralism, and universal human equality" while displaying "a dynamic and activist attitude" unmatched in Haredi Judaism.<ref name="Ravitzky183" />
 * '''Anti-Zionist critique.''' Shahak and Mezvinsky (critical) set Chabad within "Jewish fundamentalism" alongside Gush Emunim and the National Religious Party.<ref name="Shahak61" />
 * '''Press TV article.''' In a 2024 article for ''Press TV'', David Miller argued that Chabad, "an ultra-orthodox Zionist cult headquartered in New York with many adherents in the Israeli occupation forces, has been deeply complicit in the genocide in Gaza". He cited a "first Chabad House" set up in Beit Hanoun in December 2023, menorahs raised in Gaza by Chabad army rabbis, and UK Chabad fundraising for a reserve unit, and described the movement as "a supremacist, hate-mongering Zionist cult".<ref name="PressTV2024" />
-:''Editor's note: Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, ''The Rebbe'' (Princeton, 2010), Yitzhak Kraus, ''The Seventh'' (2007), David Berger and Rachel Elior discuss Chabad messianism and politics. Their specific passages on Israeli politics have not been checked against the texts and are not cited here.''
+:''Editor's note: Mezvinsky and Kolb's article is cited from an OCR text of the journal pages, and quotations have been checked against it with OCR errors corrected. Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, ''The Rebbe'' (Princeton, 2010), Yitzhak Kraus, ''The Seventh'' (2007), David Berger and Rachel Elior discuss Chabad messianism and politics. Their specific passages on Israeli politics have not been checked against the texts and are not cited here.''
 == See also ==

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 == Settlements, the army and Hebron ==
-[[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" /> For a hostile Iranian state media account of Chabad activity in the 2023–24 war, see Critical perspectives below.<ref name="PressTV2024">David Miller, [https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2024/03/18/722099/dissecting-ultra-zionist-cult-chabad-complicity-genocide-gaza "Dissecting the ultra-Zionist cult Chabad and its complicity in genocide in Gaza"], ''Press TV'', 18 March 2024. Iranian state media; polemical opinion piece.</ref>
+[[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" /> For a critical account of Chabad activity in the 2023–24 war, see David Miller's article under Critical perspectives below.<ref name="PressTV2024">David Miller, [https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2024/03/18/722099/dissecting-ultra-zionist-cult-chabad-complicity-genocide-gaza "Dissecting the ultra-Zionist cult Chabad and its complicity in genocide in Gaza"], ''Press TV'', 18 March 2024.</ref>
 Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that "among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups". They name [[Baruch Goldstein]] and [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]].<ref name="Shahak61" />
@@ Line 61: / Line 61: @@
 * '''Religious radicalism.''' Ravitzky argues that Chabad "clearly rejects such concepts as liberalism, pluralism, and universal human equality" while displaying "a dynamic and activist attitude" unmatched in Haredi Judaism.<ref name="Ravitzky183" />
 * '''Anti-Zionist critique.''' Shahak and Mezvinsky (polemical) set Chabad within "Jewish fundamentalism" alongside Gush Emunim and the National Religious Party.<ref name="Shahak61" />
-* '''Iranian state media.''' In a March 2024 opinion piece for the Iranian state broadcaster ''Press TV'', David Miller, presenter of its ''Palestine Declassified'' show, argued that Chabad, "an ultra-orthodox Zionist cult headquartered in New York with many adherents in the Israeli occupation forces, has been deeply complicit in the genocide in Gaza". He cited reports of a "first Chabad House" set up by soldiers in Beit Hanoun in December 2023, menorahs raised by Chabad army rabbis, and UK Chabad fundraising for a reserve unit. He described the movement as "a supremacist, hate-mongering Zionist cult".<ref name="PressTV2024" /> These are the author's claims, made in a partisan source, and are not confirmed here.
+* '''Press TV article.''' In a 2024 article for ''Press TV'', David Miller argued that Chabad, "an ultra-orthodox Zionist cult headquartered in New York with many adherents in the Israeli occupation forces, has been deeply complicit in the genocide in Gaza". He cited a "first Chabad House" set up in Beit Hanoun in December 2023, menorahs raised in Gaza by Chabad army rabbis, and UK Chabad fundraising for a reserve unit, and described the movement as "a supremacist, hate-mongering Zionist cult".<ref name="PressTV2024" />
 :''Editor's note: Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, ''The Rebbe'' (Princeton, 2010), Yitzhak Kraus, ''The Seventh'' (2007), David Berger and Rachel Elior discuss Chabad messianism and politics. Their specific passages on Israeli politics have not been checked against the texts and are not cited here.''

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 :''Editor's note: the Chabad slogan of "the wholeness of the land" (''shleimut ha'aretz'') is widely used in Chabad campaigns, but no verified primary text by the Rebbe defining it has been cited here yet.''
 == "Who is a Jew" and the 1988 election ==
@@ Line 39: / Line 41: @@
 American Jewish reaction was sharp. Rabbi Alexander Schindler of the Reform movement said that "Rabbi Schneerson, sitting in his study on (Brooklyn's) Eastern Parkway, decided that Agudat Yisrael would not participate in the proposed government", and asked "How can a religious leader in good conscience reject the idea of moving toward peace when the young men in his own movement are exempted from military service".<ref name="JTA1990" /> Rabbi Allan Nadler told ''Time'': "It's a disgrace; it's completely disgusting."<ref name="Time1990" /> Ravitzky says Agudat representatives in 1990 "played a central part in determining the fate of the parliamentary coalition and of the new government".<ref name="Ravitzky182" />
 == 1996: "Bibi is good for the Jews" ==
@@ Line 45: / Line 49: @@
 == 2005 Gaza disengagement ==
 After the Rebbe's death, opposition to territorial withdrawal continued, but mainstream Chabad institutions became more cautious. In 2005 the ''Forward'' reported that "Chabad activists have emerged as some of the most militant opponents of disengagement in Israel", while "the central leadership in the United States ... has avoided organizing an official campaign against it".<ref name="Forward2005a">[https://forward.com/news/2580/pullout-critics-in-us-draw-few-backers/ "Pullout Critics In U.S. Draw Few Backers"], ''Forward'', 2005.</ref> A June 2005 rally at Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights was "dominated by a faction of the Chabad community that believes that the movement's late rebbe ... will return to life as the messiah". There, "leaders of mainstream Chabad institutions have made efforts to distance themselves".<ref name="Forward2005b">[https://forward.com/news/3720/hasidim-rally-against-disengagement/ "Hasidim Rally Against Disengagement"], ''Forward'', 2005.</ref> Rabbi Avraham Hecht attacked the leadership: "When I read that the Lubavitch took a position that we're not to get involved, it went against everything I know ... This is deportation, not disengagement."<ref name="Forward2005c">Jennifer Siegel, [https://forward.com/news/3819/speech-reflects-chabad-split/ "Speech Reflects Chabad Split"], ''Forward'', 15 July 2005.</ref> At a Manhattan rally organised partly by the Chabad group Pikuach Nefesh, Rabbi Aaron Raskin explained the official reticence: "The rebbe wanted it to be a Jewish campaign [not only a Chabad campaign]".<ref name="CHinfo">[https://crownheights.info/general/314/raising-their-voice-against-the-pullout/ "Raising Their Voice Against The Pullout"], CrownHeights.info (Chabad community news site).</ref> See also [[Chabad messianism]].
 == Settlements, the army and Hebron ==
 [[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" /> For a critical account of Chabad activity in the 2023–24 war, see David Miller's article under Critical perspectives below.<ref name="PressTV2024">David Miller, [https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2024/03/18/722099/dissecting-ultra-zionist-cult-chabad-complicity-genocide-gaza "Dissecting the ultra-Zionist cult Chabad and its complicity in genocide in Gaza"], ''Press TV'', 18 March 2024.</ref>
 Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that "among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups". They name [[Baruch Goldstein]] and [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]].<ref name="Shahak61" />

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 == Opposition to territorial concessions ==
-The Rebbe opposed returning territory captured in 1967. A reference entry states that he "adopted a rigid position on the question of Israel's occupied territories" and "opposed the Camp David accords (1979), which returned the Sinai to Egypt", and that he later "condemned the Oslo accords (1993), which he feared would lead Israel to cede land to the Palestinians".<ref name="IESS">"Schneerson, Menachem Mendel", ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences'' (2nd edn, 2008), via [https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/schneerson-menachem-mendel Encyclopedia.com].</ref> Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, writing from an explicitly anti-Zionist and polemical position, add that "in 1974 he strongly opposed the Israeli withdrawal from the Suez area" and that from 1967 "the Lubovitcher Rebbe always supported Israeli wars and opposed any retreat". They also say that in the mid-1970s he shifted support from Labor "sometimes to Likud and sometimes to a religious party", with [[Ariel Sharon]] as "the Rebbe's favorite Israeli senior politician".<ref name="Shahak61">Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, ''Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel'' (London: Pluto Press, new edn 2004), p. 61. Polemical source.</ref>
+The Rebbe opposed returning territory captured in 1967. A reference entry states that he "adopted a rigid position on the question of Israel's occupied territories" and "opposed the Camp David accords (1979), which returned the Sinai to Egypt", and that he later "condemned the Oslo accords (1993), which he feared would lead Israel to cede land to the Palestinians".<ref name="IESS">"Schneerson, Menachem Mendel", ''International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences'' (2nd edn, 2008), via [https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/schneerson-menachem-mendel Encyclopedia.com].</ref> Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, writing from an explicitly anti-Zionist, critical position, add that "in 1974 he strongly opposed the Israeli withdrawal from the Suez area" and that from 1967 "the Lubovitcher Rebbe always supported Israeli wars and opposed any retreat". They also say that in the mid-1970s he shifted support from Labor "sometimes to Likud and sometimes to a religious party", with [[Ariel Sharon]] as "the Rebbe's favorite Israeli senior politician".<ref name="Shahak61">Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky, ''Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel'' (London: Pluto Press, new edn 2004), p. 61. Critical source.</ref>
 === The ''pikuach nefesh'' argument ===
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 Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that "among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups". They name [[Baruch Goldstein]] and [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]].<ref name="Shahak61" />
-:''Editor's note: Shahak and Mezvinsky are polemical. Goldstein's Chabad affiliation is disputed and is not confirmed here by an independent source. Ginsburgh's Chabad identity and his Yitzhar yeshiva are covered, with sources, at [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh]] and [[Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva]]. The [[Hilltop Youth]] come mainly from Religious Zionist and Kahanist circles rather than Chabad.''
+:''Editor's note: Shahak and Mezvinsky write as critics of Chabad. Goldstein's Chabad affiliation is disputed and is not confirmed here by an independent source. Ginsburgh's Chabad identity and his Yitzhar yeshiva are covered, with sources, at [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh]] and [[Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva]]. The [[Hilltop Youth]] come mainly from Religious Zionist and Kahanist circles rather than Chabad.''
 == Netanyahu in later years ==
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 * '''Military service.''' Schindler's charge that the Rebbe rejected peace moves while his movement's yeshiva students were exempt from military service (above).<ref name="JTA1990" />
 * '''Religious radicalism.''' Ravitzky argues that Chabad "clearly rejects such concepts as liberalism, pluralism, and universal human equality" while displaying "a dynamic and activist attitude" unmatched in Haredi Judaism.<ref name="Ravitzky183" />
-* '''Anti-Zionist critique.''' Shahak and Mezvinsky (polemical) set Chabad within "Jewish fundamentalism" alongside Gush Emunim and the National Religious Party.<ref name="Shahak61" />
+* '''Anti-Zionist critique.''' Shahak and Mezvinsky (critical) set Chabad within "Jewish fundamentalism" alongside Gush Emunim and the National Religious Party.<ref name="Shahak61" />
 * '''Press TV article.''' In a 2024 article for ''Press TV'', David Miller argued that Chabad, "an ultra-orthodox Zionist cult headquartered in New York with many adherents in the Israeli occupation forces, has been deeply complicit in the genocide in Gaza". He cited a "first Chabad House" set up in Beit Hanoun in December 2023, menorahs raised in Gaza by Chabad army rabbis, and UK Chabad fundraising for a reserve unit, and described the movement as "a supremacist, hate-mongering Zionist cult".<ref name="PressTV2024" />
 :''Editor's note: Samuel Heilman and Menachem Friedman, ''The Rebbe'' (Princeton, 2010), Yitzhak Kraus, ''The Seventh'' (2007), David Berger and Rachel Elior discuss Chabad messianism and politics. Their specific passages on Israeli politics have not been checked against the texts and are not cited here.''

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 == Settlements, the army and Hebron ==
-[[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" /> For a hostile Iranian state media account of Chabad activity in the 2023–24 war, see Critical perspectives below.<ref name="PressTV2024" />
+[[Kfar Chabad]], founded shortly after 1948, was in Ravitzky's words "a physical base for its spiritual enterprise". From it the movement "established many centers throughout the land".<ref name="Ravitzky183" /> Ravitzky also describes campaigns on "army bases", where young Hasidim appeal to individuals to perform a commandment on the spot.<ref name="Ravitzky182" /> In the 2023 Gaza war, Chabad.org reported that its centres near bases in Eilat, Hebron and Metula were supplying troops and helping soldiers "put on tefillin". It also reported that the entire rabbinate of Chabad of Hebron was serving in uniform on reserve duty.<ref name="ChabadIDF">Bruria Efune, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/6123479/jewish/Chabad-Centers-Near-IDF-Bases-Provide-Lifelines-for-Soldiers-Headed-to-War.htm "Chabad Centers Near IDF Bases Provide Lifelines for Soldiers Headed to War"], Chabad.org, 10 October 2023. Chabad-side primary source.</ref> Chabad of Hebron's director told Chabad.org: "We need to know confidently that this is our land that G‑d gave us."<ref name="ChabadIDF" /> For a hostile Iranian state media account of Chabad activity in the 2023–24 war, see Critical perspectives below.<ref name="PressTV2024">David Miller, [https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2024/03/18/722099/dissecting-ultra-zionist-cult-chabad-complicity-genocide-gaza "Dissecting the ultra-Zionist cult Chabad and its complicity in genocide in Gaza"], ''Press TV'', 18 March 2024. Iranian state media; polemical opinion piece.</ref>
 Shahak and Mezvinsky claim that "among the religious settlers in the Occupied Territories the Chabad Hassids constitute one of the most extreme groups". They name [[Baruch Goldstein]] and [[Yitzhak Ginsburgh|Yitzchak Ginsburgh]].<ref name="Shahak61" />
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 ==Notes==
 <references>
 </references>