"Appoint a representative from the White House": The rabbis' attempt to involve Trump in the conscription issue
A number of anti-Zionist Admorim met with the US President at the White House. At the last minute, through the intervention of officials in the house of Rabbi Dov Lando, the delivery of a letter demanding intervention in the conscription issue was prevented. The White House described the event as a meeting for Rosh Hashanah.
"Raise the need to protect the rights of Haredi citizens and encourage the Israeli government": US President Donald Trump met on Thursday in the Oval Office with a delegation of Haredi Admorim and Yeshiva heads from the US. The meeting took place behind closed doors, after a delay of more than an hour caused by an air traffic problem that delayed the private plane of some members of the delegation at Teterboro Airport.
According to information that reached "Hayom", the members of the delegation first entered the meeting with Trump together. After the meeting, the Admor Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of Satmar, whose court is centered in Kiryas Joel, held a private conversation with the President that lasted about ten minutes. An official summary of the talks has not yet been published, and it was not known what issues were raised in the room.
Also participating in the delegation were Rabbi Aaron's brother, the Admor Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum of Williamsburg; the Admor of Bobov-48; the Admor of Vizhnitz-Monsey; and the head of the Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva in Lakewood, Rabbi Malkiel Kotler. The eldest son of the Admor of Skver arrived in place of his 85-year-old father.
Activist Yoely Lando from the Satmar Hasidic sect tried to organize a dramatic letter addressed to US President Donald Trump, with a sharp demand for his direct intervention in the issue of Haredi conscription in Israel and against the economic and civil sanctions imposed on the Haredi public.
Behind the scenes, an attempt to bring to Trump's desk a letter drafted in Israel against the conscription of yeshiva students was blocked. "Israel Hayom" learned that the document was brought to the attention of the leader of the Lithuanian public, Rabbi Dov Lando, the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the Admorim of Gur, Belz, and Vizhnitz, as well as Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch. However, officials in Rabbi Hirsch's house prevented the signing, and as a result, the letter was not sent and was not delivered to the President.
"Protect the rights of the Haredim"
In the draft of the letter, there was a direct and unprecedented appeal to the leader of the world's greatest power: "We ask that you raise in your discussions with Israel's leaders the need to protect the rights of Haredi citizens and encourage the Israeli government:
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To stop the measures against women and their children due to the status of a husband or father.
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To protect freedom of religion, conscience, and movement.
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To ensure equality in social rights, public services, employment, law enforcement, and institutional funding.
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To prevent the military service conflict from becoming a means of collective punishment against an entire religious community.
We also respectfully ask that you appoint a senior representative at the White House who will maintain direct contact with representatives of the Orthodox community, examine relevant documentation, and closely monitor these developments."
Sources familiar with the details described the move as a "hijack" that extremist elements tried to promote, with the goal of presenting the appeal as a position enjoying the support of the leaders of the Haredi public in Israel and to recruit the US President to exert pressure on an internal issue. The letter, titled "Urgent appeal to protect the rights of the Haredi community in Israel," claimed that the religious faith of the Haredim forbids the conscription of the community's youth and that the cancellation of the historical arrangement harms their rights.
Refusing budgets
Satmar is one of the largest Hasidic courts in the world, and its centers are in Williamsburg and Kiryas Joel in New York State. It carries the flag of the anti-Zionist Haredi stream, which rejects the very existence of the State of Israel, and the Admorim at its head are accustomed to harshly attacking the Haredi parties in Israel as well for their cooperation with the state. The Hasidic educational institutions in Israel refuse to accept government budgets, for fear that dependence on state money will lead to its interference in the curriculum.
In the Hasidic sect, they say that the meeting is related to the struggle over the conscription of yeshiva students, and the desire of the courts in the US to strengthen their status and their influence on the leadership of the communities in Israel. A picture of Admorim in the Oval Office was intended to signal that they have diplomatic backing in Washington, and it is also supposed to assist in fundraising efforts in the US, money that is needed now more than ever to allow institutions in Israel to disconnect from state budgets.
