Shalom Dov Wolpo

He is the founder of the organization Ha'Matteh L'Hatzolat Ha'Am V'Ha'Aretz—SOS Israel—a militant[12] Israeli Jewish political movement opposed to any agreement leading to land concessions to the Palestinians.[13]

Another campaign run by his organization, under the slogan "There is Judgement, and there is a Judge" (referring to God), has generated considerable controversy in the Israeli press in March 2007.[14] One radio host, Natan Zahavi, denounced Wolpo on the radio in obscene terms,[15] and the Israeli Broadcasting Authority is currently investigating.[16][17]

He has recently released a film under the SOS Israel name entitled "There is judgement, and there is a judge", which shows how all the political leaders that had a hand in the Gaza disengagement have suffered as a result - for example, Sharon suffered a stroke; former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Police Chief Moshe Karadi were forced to resign; President Moshe Katsav, former Minister Chaim Ramon, and MK Tzachi Hanegbi have been involved in criminal affairs; and Yonatan Bassi, head of the Disengagement Administration, had to leave his kibbutz after being accused of collaborating in driving settlers out of their homes. The film maintains that this is God's retribution. The film includes footage of Rabbi Schneerson declaring that making territorial concessions to the Arabs will lead to disaster and telling Katzav that "it would lead to the opposite of peace".[18] Maariv reports that two million copies of the film are to be distributed, and the film is to be made available for download online.[18]

On 11 November 2008, Wolpo founded a new party, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu. The party allied itself with the Jewish National Front, and ran in the 2009 Knesset elections as part of the National Union alliance. Eretz Yisrael Shelanu took one of the party's four seats, taken by Michael Ben-Ari.

In a Halachic ruling, Wolpo ruled that it was forbidden to teach children from Israeli education ministry-approved textbooks that show maps of Israel with Green Line marked, as this was an attack on West Bank settlers.[19] He told Maariv that Israeli education minister Yuli Tamir should "recall what happened to Ariel Sharon" before she attacked the settlement movement.[20]

In February 2007, Wolpo appealed a decision that a political campaign under the slogan "If anyone comes to remove me from my home, I will chop off their hands" amounted to incitement to violence, since retired Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin vowed to defend the Supreme Court, which he said was dear to him, with all his strength, saying, "If someone raises a hand against my house, I will cut it off", and he wasn't accused of anything. The slogan was meant to protest the removal of Jewish settlers from their West Bank homes.[21]

Wolpo arranged an elaborate award ceremony for Sergeant Hananel Dayan (son of Yosef Dayan), who was disciplined for refusing to shake the hand of Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. The soldier was protesting the forced eviction of his grandparents from their Gaza home in 2005.[22]

In 2006, Wolpo defended Rabbi David Drukman, chief rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin, over charges that he had abused his position as a state employee to incite violence. Wolpo said: "Rabbi Drukman will go down in history as someone who stood up to a vile government fearlessly."[23]

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, he told the local Kiryat Gat weekly that, "Olmert has declared war against God and against His Torah", and that he should be brought to justice. He added that the war should continue "until the enemy has been totally eradicated".[24]

In 2006, offered a free copy of one of his book "From Light to Darkness" to anyone that pledged to refrain from celebrating Independence Day.[25]

In 2007, he told a conference in Jerusalem that "the remedy for the disengagement is to understand that the State of Israel is a terrible thing. We should not bless or praise the state that was founded by criminals and heretics like Herzl."[26]

In December 2007, Wolpo stated that his followers will secede from Israel if the Israeli government withdraws from the West Bank.[27] It is unclear which part of Israel Wolpo and his followers would claim, or how they would achieve autonomous status.

Wolpo, addressing a demonstration against the Olmert government's peace moves with the Palestinian Authority, said that the prime minister, Vice Premier Chaim Ramon, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak would be "hung from the gallows", were Israel run properly.

"The terrible traitor, Ehud Olmert, who gives these Nazis weapons, who gives money, who frees their murderous terrorists, this man, like Ariel Sharon, collaborates with the Nazis", Wolpo said in the speech.

Yoel Hasson, a lawmaker with Olmert's Kadima party, said he would ask Israel's attorney general to take legal steps against Wolpo. The U.S.-based Orthodox Union issued a statement condemning the remarks.[28]

Rabbi Wolpo said that the comments he made at the conference were twisted and taken out of context. In calling for the execution of state leaders by legal means, he was not calling for vigilante violence, he explained, but rather calling on the police to implement the law. Rabbi Wolpo wrote that he believes violence against a fellow Jew is unacceptable, but that law enforcement has the right and responsibility to enforce the law.

One of Israel's laws prohibits providing assistance to Nazis, he explained, and Muslim terrorist groups are the Nazis of our day. If the government provides terrorists with aid, he reasoned, then the government has violated the law, and its members must suffer the consequences, which can include the death penalty.

Rabbi Wolpo emphasized that he was calling for any such punishments to be carried out in a legal manner.[29]