Clearly labeled as avodah zarah by Gedolei Yisroel

Rosh Yeshivas Tifrach,Harav Aviezer Piltz shlit”a recently spoke at an Asifa. He noted that thousands of years of persecution have not broken Am Yisroel, and neither will the current persecution at the hands of the Zionist rulers. He said that the obsession of the Zionists and their followers on the primacy of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel was clearly labeled as avodah zarah by Gedolei Yisroel, and that although many could not understand their harsh opposition to Zionism at the time, today it is clearly understandable to all who have eyes to see.

He cited the Chazon Ish zy”a who stated that unfortunately far from heralding the geulah, the Zionist state will not advance the coming of Moshiach at all and Moshiach will have no association with any of their projects. Similarly, Harav Shach ztz”l, would observe the celebrations of “Yom Yerushalayim” and cry out, “Treif!”

Harav Piltz also addressed the growing interference of Misrad Hachinuch in chareidi education. “They no longer allow us to teach our children about Akeidas Yitzchok, about Beriyas Haolam – baruch Hash-m that there are still people who stand up to them…”

Kol Demama, Shemini

It's not just about us

"You should pray for the welfare of the whole world and feel other's pain. This is the way of the righteous. David HaMelech said, "And I, when they were ill, dressed in sackcloth, I afflicted myself with fasting." (Tehillim 35:13) Do not pray and beseech God only for your own needs. Pray also that all humanity should live in peace. When there is peace among governments, there is peace in the world."

Rabbeinu Yona of Girona, on Pirkei Avos 3:2. Rabbeinu Yona, d. 1263, who is referenced several times in Tosfos, was the teacher of the Rashba. He is the author of the classic Gates of Repentance.

Thinking for yourself

R' Nosson Kamenestky z'l in an interview talking about the traditional Litvish approach which was actually to use one's own mind in running his life.

Q: Is there a halachic source for blindly following a rabbi in matters that are not related to Jewish law, such as politics or other matters? 

“The Mitnagdim (non-Chassidic Jews) always thought for themselves. If they had a specific question they could not decide, they would come to get advice from a wise and knowledgeable man who had the Torah behind him, but things a person can figure out on his own, it is forbidden to depend on others’ judgment. In his commentary to the Mishna, Rambam describes the great power of the human mind to make decisions, a man must use his own mind, do not denigrate your own intelligence. If you have a doubt about something, go ask someone wiser, after you hear what they say, you do not have to follow their advice like a blind man, you have to digest it and decide if it was good or bad. The Mishna asks, ‘Upon whom should one rely?’ And it answers, ‘On God.’ It does not say ‘On Rav Elyashiv,’ or ‘On Rav Shteinman.’ It is obvious that we talk of individual issues, but in issues concerning the entire community, great Torah scholars are the leaders of the community and guides of all of Israel.”

Q: From what, in your opinion, comes the adoration and complete obedience that currently permeates the relationship to the rabbis in the Lithuanian world, which is reminiscent of the way Hasidim act? 

“You’d be surprised to hear that Hitler, may his name be erased, is responsible for this. Most of the Jews who survived the Holocaust were from Hasidic areas, and this was their approach. If there is a change in the upbringing of the Lithuanian Jews of today, it is this, that we teach them to be Hasidim of the Lithuanian Rabbis - that is my opinion. I, in any case, was not raised this way. I was raised in the best Lithuanian fashion. Healthy skepticism, respect for wisdom, and having some knowledge of true modesty. But that was my problem –I wrote from that perspective.” 

Similarly, I heard Rav Avigdor Miller, who talked often about the importance of seeking the advice of gadolm, say that one must be responsible for his own life. It is dangerous to rely on another too much. 

None of these means that one should rely only on himself. None of it means that a person should not study the words of the wise in order to acquire wisdom. As one Litvish Rav told me a person should strive to stay within the 6 line highway that the gadolim of his generation traverse, but within those 6 lanes you have choices. But with freedom comes responsibility. We are responsible for our choices and pay the price for bad ones.

They rebelled also against God

“Benny Morris on “A New Look at the 1948 Arab-Israeli War,” Wilson Center, 43:15

“The war was definitely not a jihad or a religious war on the Israeli side. On the Israeli side, the Jewish population in Palestine, the yishuv, was 90% secular at the time. And the leadership of the yishuv was almost totally secular. The military leadership, the political leadership. It was a very secular society. You get an optical illusion when you look back from 2016 when Israel has become much more religious or a larger part, segment of its population is religious. But in 1948 the people who counted and actually the vast majority of the population was of course non-religious. In fact they were children, or actually the people themselves, who had rebelled against religion. This is what Zionism was all about, partly, against rebelling against the old world of their fathers, which was a religious world. They rebelled also against God. So they didn’t approach the war at all as a religious war, not the generals, not the politicians, not Ben-Gurion, not Sharet, not Allon, not Dayan. They were irreligious people. Maybe even they were anti-religious, so the religious people saw them.”

Watch

Benny Morris is one of Israel's most respected historians. 

Israel does not want peace

The former chief of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, has said that Israel does not want peace and that, if it had, it would have made peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) long ago.
Shavit gave his remarks to Israeli daily Maariv, reiterating that if Israel wanted peace it would have discussed it in economic and infrastructure terms that serve the interests of both parties, Arab 48 reported yesterday....“We [Israel] are the strongest in the Middle East”, Shavit continued, adding that:
at this time no Arab coalition is likely to be formed that would endanger [Israel’s] existence like in the 1960s and 1970s.
....
Regarding the Oslo Accords of the mid-1990s – the last substantial attempt at peace negotiations – Shavit said that the Israeli right-wing has since painted this agreement as a “sin,” arguing that had they continued down this path, there could have been peace.
“This is not fantasy, because those who do not want peace succeeded in making large portions of the country believe that Oslo was the mother of all sins and the desire for peace is also a sin,” Shavit concluded.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190622-israel-does-not-want-peace-former-mossad-chief-says/