Ex-Netanyahu adviser: PM doesn't believe in G-d

Dudi Zilbershlag, a chareidi media figure who worked closely with Binyamin Netanyahu and other Israeli prime ministers, has cast serious doubt on Netanyahu's internal connection to Jewish faith.

In an interview on "Yossi's Podcast" with Yossi Ben Atar on Kikar Hashabat, Zilbershlag was asked which of the prime ministers he worked with was truly connected to Judaism. His answer was blunt: "None of them. Nothing."

Ben Atar pressed him directly: "Is Netanyahu a complete apikores (non-believer)?" Zilbershlag declined to use that word himself, but replied: "I don't want to label him, but there are all kinds of behaviors there."

When asked point-blank whether Netanyahu himself believes, Zilbershlag answered no.

Ben Atar followed up, asking whether when Netanyahu says "b'ezrat Hashem" he actually means it. Zilbershlag's response: "He doesn't belong to us." He said his assessment comes from close personal familiarity with Netanyahu. "I worked with him very closely," he recounted, adding: "He was never my cup of tea, if you're asking me."

Zilbershlag explained that his impression is also based on conversations with people close to Netanyahu. He described a gap between the prime minister's public image, which over the years has featured frequent use of traditional phrases and displays of connection to Tanach and Jewish heritage, and the way he himself understands Netanyahu's personal relationship to the world of faith.

According to him, even the close relationship built over the years between Netanyahu and the chareidi parties is not necessarily evidence of a deep connection to Judaism. "There was some sympathy that was based on interests," he said.

Zilbershlag also sharply criticized Netanyahu's political conduct, claiming that over the years he has pushed aside nearly every significant alternative in the right-wing camp. "To our great sorrow, he destroyed the value of anyone who had a drop of value in the right-wing camp before he managed to raise his head," he said. "There's a cruel, cold political game here that left us with no one, only him."

Later, Zilbershlag also mentioned Netanyahu's conduct around the Disengagement plan and his votes on the evacuation of Gush Katif, claiming that in this too one can see, in his view, a gap between the image Netanyahu cultivated among the religious and chareidi public and his actual decisions. "He's leading us astray," he said.