Rabbi Dov Lior

Jewish SupremacismJewish ExtremismAnti MuslimAnti-ArabUltra-Zionism

Feb 21

**DOB:** 30 October 1930

**Nationality:** Polish

**Location:** Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine
**Ideology/Affiliation:** Jewish Supremacism/Ultra-Zionism/Orthodox-Judaism/Anti-Arab

**Type of Leader:** Preacher/Propagandist/Ideological leader

Current Status: Rosh Yeshiva (Dean) of the Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva and Head of ‘Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria’

Biography

Dov Lior is a Polish Jew born in Jaroslaw, a town in southeastern Poland. During WWII, his family fled to the Soviet Union. In 1945, Lior entered the American occupation zone in Germany, where some Jewish institutions were operating. He was later placed in a Jewish orphanage where he began studying Hebrew. In 1948, Lior, among many other Jews, managed to reach Palestine weeks before proclaiming the Jewish State of Israel. He initially attended the Bnei Akiva Kfar HaRoeh high school Yeshiva, and subsequently the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook.

In 1978, Lior stood for Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem but was defeated by Rabbi Rav Zolti. In 2008, Lior, among other Rabbis, claimed that the government’s policies on Jewish settlements were “worse than the British Mandate's White Paper.” In the 1980s, leaders of Jewish underground terror organisations testified that Lior’s book “The King’s Torah: Laws of Killing Non-Jews” was a primary source of their motives to kill innocent Arabs, and that the Bible’s order of “Thou shalt not kill” applies only to other Jews, and not to Goyim (Non-Jews). Despite the date not being verified, Lior also once wrote in a book that captured Palestinian fighters should be used as guinea pigs for medical experiments. In the 1990’s, Lior issued a religious edict that condemned Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as a traitor and worthy of death. Rabin was later assassinated and reports surfaced that Lior counselled his assassin, Yigal Amir.

Lior is considered a prominent anti-Arab Rabbi, religious Zionist leader and former student of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, son of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. He served as Rabbi of Moshav Kfar Haroeh for 10 years and was later promoted to Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba. Dior was also the Rabbi of Baruch Goldstein, the terrorist that carried out the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre (Also known as the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre). Following the attack, Lior infamously praised Goldstein and stated that he was a “holier martyr than all the holy martyrs of the holocaust”.

In 2014, Lior stepped down as the Chief Rabbi and in 2015, he relocated from Kiryat Arba to a new home in Jerusalem. Currently, he is the co-head of the Hesder Yeshiva Nir Kiryat Arba alongside Rav Eliezer Waldman.

None

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

May 2021: At a conference, Lior spoke in favour of the religious Zionist community and referred to local Palestinians by stating: “There are no innocents here, there are only those who protect criminals. There was a pogrom here, like in Kristallnacht. With these savages, there is no peace and there will be no peace. For them, peace is not like it is for us, it’s a break before the next round.”

November 2015: Rabbi Dov Lior made a controversial remark, claiming that the Paris terror attacks were revenge for Europe’s treatment of Jews during the Holocaust - “the wicked ones in blood-soaked Europe deserve it for what they did to our people 70 years ago.”

July 2014: Lior had been asked if it’s permissible under Jewish law to hurt civilians who aren’t actively connected with the fighters [referring to Gazans]. In a published letter, Lior claimed that Jewish law allows for the whole destruction of the Gaza Strip in order to bring peace to the country’s south - “in the case of Gaza, it would be permitted for the defence minister to even order the destruction of all of Gaza so that the South will no longer suffer and to prevent injury to our people, who have been suffering for so long from the enemies surrounding us” and “talk of humanitarianism and consideration are nothing when weighed against saving our brothers in the South and across the country and the restoration of quiet to our land,” he added.

September 2011: Lior issued a statement referring to the Arabs as “wolves”, saying: “What we have with those villains and savages is not peace, and it won’t be peace. It’s against their nature. They hate peace.” He even said that Israel should be cleared of Arabs, who should be given a right to return to places like Saudi Arabia. “The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel only,” he claimed. He also referred to Arabs as “evil camel riders”.

Extremist Individuals - Jewish Extremists