Rabbi Dov Landau, head of the Slabodka Yeshiva and one of the Lithuanian community leaders, called for the Arabs to rule Israel as they had in the past in a transcript published in Kikar on Friday.
Reminiscing, he said, "It is possible to live well with the Arabs without a state."
He advocated for Arab rule over Israel, saying, "It would be quite good if the Arabs ruled here; the best situation, [if] the Arabs would rule, they would respect them (Zionists), not interfere with them, bring money to the country - the Arabs love money."
He said that had the Jews properly submitted themselves to King Faisal over 90 years ago, the conflict would not have happened. "If the Arabs had received such treatment, the situation would have been different. They also made the Arabs hate us."
"Never before have the Arabs been so hated in the whole world," he continued. "They'll stop one day; it's impossible to believe them anymore; maybe huge concessions could have been made. I don't know what to say, politically, I don't know, and what you don't understand shouldn't be talked about."
Attacking religious Zionists
Landau attacked religious Zionists and their rabbis in response to a question by a visiting rabbi.
The rabbis arrived to ask Landau whether Torah study had saved Israel from the Arabs. One rabbi complained to him of the many young men who were "surrendering their souls" and getting killed in order to "protect the people and the land."
Landau responded, saying they were being killed because their (religious Zionist) rabbis had taught them "distorted Torah."
"They brought physical disasters, not just spiritual ones, to the people of Israel," he said in reference to Zionism, which he believes is incompatible with Judaism.