Chief rabbi says terrorists should be killed on the spot
Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said again on Saturday night that terrorists who commit an attack should be killed on the spot.
The rabbi was giving his weekly Torah lesson which he dedicated to the victims of the brutal terror attack in Halamish on Friday night.
“It’s a shame they didn’t kill this terrorist, they should have killed him,” commented Yosef.
“God forbid, any Arab terrorist who comes to kill must not return alive,” said Yosef simply.
“He’s coming to harm the Jewish people – he needs to be killed not wounded.”
This is not the first time the chief rabbi has made such comments. In 2016, he made similar remarks after the IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot called on soldiers to show restraint when dealing with certain terrorist incidents.
“If a terrorist is advancing with a knife, it’s a mitzva [commandment] to kill him,” said Yosef in March last year.
“One shouldn’t be afraid that someone will petition the High Court of Justice or some [army] chief of staff will come and say something different.
“There is no need to be afraid. ‘He who comes to kill you, get up and kill him,’” continued Yosef, citing the rabbinic dictum of self-defense.
That time, however, Yosef stressed that a murderous attacker who no longer has a weapon should not be killed, but rather put in prison for the rest of his life.