The Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Israel has distanced itself from one of its prominent rabbis after he issued a controversial religious ruling that permits using lethal force against Jewish party leaders who cooperate with Arab parties.
Rabbi Gedalia Axelrod, a former head of the Haifa Rabbinical Court, issued a handwritten letter earlier this week invoking the Talmudic principle of ‘din rodef’.
Under Jewish law, the doctrine permits the use of lethal force against an individual considered an imminent threat to another’s life.
In his letter, Axelrod argued that Jewish politicians who support forming a governing coalition with Arab parties, namely Ra'am and the Joint List, could fall under the doctrine. He claimed that such political cooperation posed a “terrible danger” to Jews in Israel and around the world.
The term was previously invoked by Yigal Amir to justify the 1995 assassination of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, after extremist rabbis argued that Rabin’s pursuit of the Oslo Accords endangered Jewish lives.
Following the publication of Axelrod’s letter, several organisations and former senior security officials called for a police investigation on suspicion of incitement to murder.
Rabbi Shimi Segal, Chabad’s spokesman in Israel, told Haaretz that the movement’s official halachic rulings were determined exclusively by its rabbinical court.
"Rabbi Axelrod is not a member of this court and does not fill a function in the leadership of Chabad. His words and letters reflect his own personal opinion," Segal said.
Axelrod told Walla that he did not regret writing the letter. “The Torah obliges me; I knew it was not easy, but if the Torah obliges, then we go, we are the Jews, we make sacrifices,” he told the news agency, adding, “I act on my own behalf, that’s all.”
A group of former heads of Israel's security services and military penned a letter to Assistant-Chief Boaz Balet, head of the police Investigations and Intelligence Division, urging authorities to summon Axelrod for questioning.
They warned that failure to respond to rhetoric legitimising violence against elected officials paved the way for another political assassination.
MK Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish member of the Joint List, separately called on Israel’s state prosecutor to open a criminal investigation into Axelrod. "We are right now in a very sensitive period of leadership change following the election," he said.
"It is clearly incumbent upon the law enforcement authorities to operate with particular vigilance during this period against anyone who threatens, incites or legitimises killing elected officials for exercising the public mandate given to them."
Ra'am, headed by Mansour Abbas, previously participated in the Bennett-Lapid government between 2021 and 2022.
Both Ra'am and the Joint List have also recommended Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot to form the next government. Eisenkot has indicated that he would consider including the Arab parties if they meet certain conditions, including recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
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