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.