Yerushalayim Man Arrested After Seeking Psak From Rav Yitzchak Yosef to Kill Israel’s Anti-Chareidi Attorney General

HaRav Yitzchak Yosef. (Shuki Lehrer)

Israeli police arrested a 36-year-old man from Yerushalayim on suspicion of threatening Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s life, after he allegedly approached former Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef seeking a psak that she is a rodef and he is allowed to murder her. Alarmed, Rav Yosef relayed the encounter to Religious Affairs Ministry director-general Yehuda Avidan, who immediately alerted the Jerusalem District police.

Police said they had already launched an investigation earlier in the day after receiving a letter containing an explicit death threat against a senior public figure. Within hours, investigators tracked the suspect to his home and arrested him. Authorities said he will be brought to court as they seek to extend his remand.

The din rodef designation carries explosive resonance in Israel’s history. Yigal Amir, the assassin of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, cited it as justification for his crime. Law enforcement sources stressed the severity of invoking it, given its deadly precedent in political violence.

Baharav-Miara has become a lightning rod in Israel’s polarized political climate. Earlier this month, the government voted to oust her, a move quickly frozen by the High Court. She has frequently clashed with the Chareidi community, halting daycare subsidies for families of lomdei torah and pressing the IDF to deliver enlistment orders to thousands of bnei yeshiva, including threats of arrest for noncompliance.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

12 Responses

  1. while the fellow is technically correct, Rav Yosef understood that such an action can quite possibly put many chareidi lives (including his own) in danger, and therefore reported him to the police, מדין רודף.

  2. DrYidd look at you sticking up for the woman who investigates soldiers and Intelligence Officers that were just a little bit too mean to the Arabs, the woman witch that undermines the Prime Minister and the government the entire War, and the one who visits terrorists in jail and make sure they’re well fed and have good legal counsel. I’m glad that’s one of your friends because I hope you guys will one day burn to a crisp together in the darkest hole. Shame on you for even considering having Mercy on her

  3. greesygeshmakster, you are allowed to disclose planned illegal actions to a just government according to accepted halakha.

  4. 1. How can he snitch to the government: he gets money from the government, you think the Rav doesn’t give them something back? Also the silly dreams of Yeshiva bochrim trying to shtim the anti-zionism of yesteryears kanoim with the modern haredi world of Israel (which literally beggs the Israeli government for money) is a yeshiva bochers problem. Adult Rabbis giving the heter to think about something other than the daf for five minutes come to different conclusions.

    Why is fighting Arabs bad but fighting tsionim good? Why is the government evil but when it comes time to collect their money is kosher? Either go Neturei Karta and support active resistance to the state and put some skin in the game or stop trying to understand the world around you. You can also reassess the now out of date haredi political line but I’m sure that’s like eating pork or something.

  5. @greesygeshmakster, I’d speculate that Rav Yosef felt that perhaps the person asking him the shayla may be the actual Rodef in this circumstance.
    Unless I’ve grossly misunderstood the story, Ms. Miara (as much as we here may detest her – rightly so) was not embarking to murder anyone, whereas the questioner to Rav Yosef was proposing to unjustly murder Ms. Miara.

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