Israeli Rabbi rules to kill politicians cooperating with Arab parties

A prominent rabbi in Israel has invoked a Jewish religious doctrine permitting the use of lethal force against politicians who cooperate with Arab parties, Haaretz reported. Rabbi Gedalya Axelrod, a former head of the Haifa Rabbinical Court, said in a handwritten ruling that Jewish party leaders who support a government formed with the backing of Arab parties are subject to din rodef, or the “law of the pursuer”. In a handwritten letter, Axelrod wrote that collaboration with Arab parties "poses a terrible danger to the people of Israel in the Holy Land and around the world." Under Jewish religious law, a rodef is someone who poses a threat to another person's life and may be stopped by any means necessary. The doctrine was invoked by Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin, Yigal Amir, to justify the prime minister’s killing in 1995. Chabad rabbi endorses killing Jewish politicians cooperating with Arab parties https://t.co/QHZFVaBHmI — Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) November 12, 2026