Racist Rabbi: "Better To Kill A Terrorist Than Call Police"

Rabbi Yosef Elitzur of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar and co-author of the racist book Torat Hamelech, wrote in a halachic ruling on Monday that should someone encounter a terrorist, it is preferable to shoot and kill them rather than call the police or attempt to apprehend the person in question, since the terrorist may be released in a future prisoner swap.

Rabbi Yosef Elitzur

'Better to kill a terrorist than call the police'
‘Torat Hamelech’ co-author Rabbi Yossi Elitzur writes halachic ruling advocating taking law into own hands in aftermath of Schalit deal.
JEREMY SHARON • Jerusalem Post
 
Rabbi Yossi Elitzur of the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar and co-author of the controversial work on Jewish law, Torat Hamelech, wrote in a halachic ruling on Monday that should someone encounter a terrorist, it is preferable to shoot and kill them rather than call the police or attempt to apprehend the person in question, since he may be released in a future prisoner swap.

Writing on the Kol Yehudi website, Elitzur said that the imagined, although “not unrealistic” situation is a relevant issue in Jewish law “following the [recent] release of numerous murderers and a number of attempted terrorist attacks” since the Schalit prisoner-exchange deal was completed last week.

“When the state apparatus broadcasts in an unequivocal manner that there is almost no price to be paid for shedding Jewish blood, it is not clear if it’s a good idea to let the police take care of these issues,” the rabbi wrote.

“At the very least, if there is a window of opportunity in which you can claim selfdefense so that the [legal] framework won’t be overtly damaged, it is better to kill the terrorist and so raise the price of Jewish blood, which has been continually cheapened.”

However, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem and a leading religious-Zionist figure, told The Jerusalem Post that a private citizen should not take the law into their own hands in this manner.

“Only the police can decide to do such a thing, not a private individual,” he said. “If there is a clear danger to life then of course the terrorist can be killed immediately but otherwise it is for the state to decide whether or not to give the death penalty to terrorists.”

Aviner added that in his opinion the death penalty should be applied to prevent the recidivism which has occurred in the past among released terrorists and to serve as a warning.

In 2009, Elitzur, together with Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, authored a work entitled Torat Hamelech: Part One: Laws of Life and Death between Israel and the Nations, relating to the attitude of Jewish law towards killing non-Jews in times of war. The book states that under certain circumstances, non-Jews not involved in hostilities may be preemptively killed, including children.

In his column on Monday, Elitzur said that the ruling applied in a case where a person sees a terrorist “trying to kill Jews,” and is confronted with the question whether or not to attempt to subdue him, tie him up and call the police, or simply shoot and kill him.”

On the one hand, he wrote, the terrorist can be categorized in Jewish law as a rodef or pursuer, someone who represents a mortal threat to another’s life. Such a person, according to Jewish law, may be killed.

On the other hand, Elitzur wrote, the principle in Jewish law of abiding by the laws of the state in which one lives is an important consideration, and that just as it is dangerous to allow a murderer to remain at liberty, it is also dangerous to allow people to act outside of the law.

“However, even if in general it’s better to leave these issues to the [legal] framework, sometimes this framework creates a situation in which it is dangerous to rely upon it,” Elitzur wrote.

The logic for “an Arab murderer” is simple, Elitzur claimed. “Either he succeeds in harming a Jew and successfully escapes; or he fails, but is caught, sits in prison for a short period and is at some stage released in another concession to the Arabs; or he succeeds in killing Jews, is caught and imprisoned for a few years in decent conditions and gains an academic degree, while his friends try to kidnap another soldier to bring the State [of Israel] to its knees once again and the murderer is released.”

Comments

[fyg]

He is not racist, since Israel does not have the death penalty even for terrorists who massacres a whole family he wants to avoid another soldier kidnapping and right he is!

[ultra haredi lite]

Racism aside, he certainly raises some valid and very compelling concerns.

[Shlomo]

He is just crazy ashknazi

[Adam Neira]

The issues raised here are to do with jurisprudence and what constitutes righteous defence and vigilantism. A real can of worms that FM's forum may be too limited for.

[dlz]

Makes sense to me.

[seymour]

next time I get scammed by a frummma I will just take the matter into my own hands and beat the crab out of the guy since we know they the scammer are just being protected from persecution and will just scam again

[Garnel Ironheart]

The source may be odious but the point is perfectly valid.

[ultra haredi lite]

Seymour,
frumma don't have crab in them lol.

[seymour]

Seymour,
frumma don't have crab in them lol.

Posted by: ultra haredi lite | October 25, 2011 at 07:54 AM
ok funny

[charlie runkel]

shmarya you sound like gideon levy who claims thay most of these terrorists shouldnt be in prison at all

[tonda]

Would the same rules apply to the radical settlers that attack palestineans?

http://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/a-gang-of-jewish-settlers-attack-palestinian-boy-with-iron-bars/

Would the palestineans be justified in just killing the jewish "terrorists"? Or is terrorism in the middle east just a one way street?

Sitting here anxiously awaiting the calls of anti-semite for actually beleiving that rights and protections apply to everyone equally.

[Yissy-CA]

I don't care who the man is, what he is saying here makes sense.

[Korbendallas72]

Not a crime to kill your enemy. End of story. Fire away!

[Proton Soup]

what should we do with people who are trying to get us into a war with iran ?

[tonda]

Ignorance is the true enemy.

Korbendallas72 has added to the enemies list.

Does that make him a legitimate target?

[p]

Unfortunately what he says makes sense. EVERYONE knows that part of a peace deal of part of the steps toward a deal will involve releasing these monsters so I say whenever possible give them Texas justice.

[Korbendallas72]

tonda - Have I offended your leftist sensibilities? Too much simple common sense? Or should I phone the UN before I fire?

[A Yid]

From the words of the Rebbe to Mr. Zvi Caspi, originally recorded in the Kfar Chabad magazine vol. 635You are mistaken with your policy of capturing terrorists and putting them into prison. These terrorists are coming to murder. We have a ruling; One who comes to kill you, take pre-emptive action kill him!Then the Rebbe added his vision: You will pay dearly by putting them into prison, because in the future you will be beset with assorted demands to strike a deal to free them as part of an exchange agreement.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Is A Yid jewish? How about the rebbe' he is quotting?
As to the loco subject of this article, he comes across as one of the more dangerous characters of "one flew over the cookoos nest", or alternatively as the twin brother of hannibal lecter without the mask, -wow! scary!
he ought to be muzzled (along with A Yid, would be a good idea. I reckon it is too late now to muzzle the said rebbe).

[abcdef]

Rashi explains in the chumash - "if one comes to kill you, hurry and kill him first."

The horrible racist Rashi and racist Chumash.

[who knows]

tonda - Have I offended your leftist sensibilities? Too much simple common sense? Or should I phone the UN before I fire?

Posted by: Korbendallas72 | October 25, 2011 at 03:11 PM

Tonda is not a leftist. He/she is a known anti-semite, who is masquarading as a fighter for human rights this time around. Just ignore this nazi & islamist lover.

[Mendy Hecht]

If a nut says it's raining outside and it indeed is, the fact that he's a nut is of little consequence.

So what's wrong with killing a bona fide terrorist?

Not a possible terrorist, but a genuine gun- or knife- or bomb-vest-bearing, "allah akhbar!" screaming definite terrorist.

The guy wants to kill you.

Kill him first.

Then call the police.

[tonda]

Thank you, Who Knows. It's so refreshing to see old faces singing the same old songs. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy like I'm home again.

ANd let me repeat past challanges. Find one thing I've said that challenged Israel's right to exist. That being said, criticizing Isreali policies does not make me anti Israel, Nor does criticizing a crackpot Rabbi make me anti-semetic. As far as crackpots gos, there isn't a single religion that hasn't got it's share.

Nazi and Islamist lover? Easy to throw invectives when you have nothing else.

[nobody]

"should someone encounter a terrorist, it is preferable to shoot and kill them rather than call the police or attempt to apprehend the person in question, since the terrorist may be released in a future prisoner swap."

Makes sense.

[nobody]

"what should we do with people who are trying to get us into a war with iran ?

Posted by: Proton Soup | October 25, 2011 at 01:11 PM "

Uhh, but isn't that what Obama and his administration are doing?

[Proton Soup]

Uhh, but isn't that what Obama and his administration are doing?

Posted by: nobody | October 25, 2011 at 09:45 PM

you know, that is a really good question. when General Wesley Clark told us about the "7 countries in 5 years" plan, he thought it was a republican agenda. but it seems this idea transcends party politics, and Obama is determined to finish the job. so where is it coming from?

[jvliv]

Rednecks in Texas say the exact same thing as this guy.

[tonda]

The biggest problem here is that the word "terrorist" has become so misused and abused that it has no meaning.

Of course anyone with a bomb strapped to their chest fits the definition. But how about people calling for ethnic cleansing. Thos attacking other groups with spiked bats. How about groups destroying agraculture or housing. Is a person of influence calling for the killing of babies a terrorist?

Lately the term has become so loosened that simply speaking in political opposition or being born in the wrong geographic area aautomatically makes yo a terrorist.

Unfortunately it seems like the real terrorists, those people that believe that the rule of law applied equally no longer applies to everyone have taken over.

The only difference between a terrorist attack and vigalante justice is which side you're on.

[PrettyBoyFloyd]

STFU tonda.
You see a terrorist, you kill it. End of story.
Shmarya doesn't like it, proves it's right.

[Disenchanted Jew]

A terrorist is anyone who gets in the way of Israel, and especially the settlers.

[PishPosh]

Its common practice in the military, when you have taken a position and are advancing and reconnoitering the terrain ahead on foot, you put an extra bullet in the brain of every enemy body you cross even if they appear dead so in case one of them has a last breath to pull a grenade to throw at your back you wont have to worry about it.

On your way back you can check and see if there is anyone possibly still alive and then treat them.