The Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement in Israel moved on Thursday to distance itself from Rabbi Gedalia Axelrod, a former head of the Haifa Rabbinical Court, after he issued a handwritten letter containing a halachic ruling invoking a religious doctrine that permits lethal force against Jewish party leaders who cooperate with Arab parties, Haaretz reported.
According to the report, Axelrod argued that such politicians are subject to the principle known as din rodef. The Hebrew word rodef translates to pursuer, and the doctrine stems from commandments concerning the saving of "a person who is being pursued, by killing the pursuer; Not to have mercy on the pursuer; Not to stand idly by when a colleague's life is in danger," as described by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon.
In the handwritten letter, Axelrod asserted that collaborating with Arab parties in Israel "poses a terrible danger to the people of Israel in the Holy Land and around the world," Haaretz reported. He argued that such collaboration could take the form of inviting Arab parties to join a governing coalition or relying on their support from outside it.
In response, a group of former heads of Israel's security services and military called on police to investigate Axelrod on suspicion of incitement to murder. In a letter to Maj.-Gen. Boaz Balet, head of the police Investigations and Intelligence Division, they urged authorities to summon the rabbi for questioning and warned that Israel could otherwise "witness another political assassination."
The doctrine carries a charged history in Israel. Yigal Amir invoked din rodef to justify the 1995 assassination of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and in the period before the killing, extremist rabbis had argued that Rabin's pursuit of the Oslo Accords endangered Jewish lives.
Asked whether Axelrod's ruling represented Chabad's position, Rabbi Shimi Segal, the movement's spokesman in Israel, told Haaretz that its rabbinical court determines the movement's official religious rulings exclusively. "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.
Joint List lawmaker Ofer Cassif separately called on State Prosecutor Amit Isman to open a criminal investigation into Axelrod. "We are right now in a very sensitive period of leadership change following the election," he wrote. "It is clearly incumbent upon the law enforcement authorities to operate with particular vigilance during this period against anyone who threatens, incites or legitimizes killing elected officials for exercising the public mandate given to them."
The controversy unfolds as coalition building takes shape after the election. Yair Golan, leader of the Democrats, had expressed support for including Arab parties in a government, while Gadi Eisenkot, who was tasked with forming the next government, had said he would invite parties that met certain conditions to join his coalition.
The United Arab List, led by Mansour Abbas, previously joined the 2021-2022 government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid. Both the United Arab List and the Joint List had recommended Eisenkot to form the next government.
