Judea And Samaria – Rabbi Elyakim Levanon, one of the leading rabbis of the settlements in Judea and Samaria, has called for the imposition of the death penalty on the murderers of Muhammed Abu Khdeir, the Arab youth who was burnt alive last week.
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Speaking to Walla news website, Levanon said Jewish law is not merciful when dealing with “such a cruel murder,” regardless of whether the victim was Jewish or not.
“There is an obligation to give them the death penalty, in order to fulfil the [Biblical precept of] ‘you shall eradicate the evil from your midst,” the rabbi said.
“The State of Israel and its operational arms, the IDF and the security services are required and commanded to wage war against terror without mercy, until it has been expunged from the world,” adding that the murderers of Gil’ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrah and Naftali Fraenkel should also receive the death penalty.
Chief Rabbi David Lau also spoke out strongly on Monday against the murder of Abu Khdeir saying it was not the way of the Torah, but also called on Arab leaders work actively to prevent a further deterioration in the security situation.
“There is no place for continued blood letting from all sides, and communal tensions must be calmed,” Lau said during the meeting of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate on Monday afternoon.
And the Barkai Center for Practical Rabbinics, which provides training for communal rabbis, called on synagogue rabbis to underline to their congregations that “revenge has absolutely no place in Judaism and that there there is no such thing as murder in the name of God.”
Rabbis David Fine and Shlomo Sobol, the Deans of Barkai, said that “congregational rabbis during these times can have great influence and therefore it is critical that rabbis speak out unequivocally and unambiguously in deploring this dangerous and un-Jewish trend.”
Why isn’t there the same call for the death penalty , for the ones who brutally murdered the three Jewish boys ????
Kol hakovod to these rabbonim for speaking emes….the unbelievable cruelty of the murder of this innocent boy is reminiscent of what was done to the kedoshim by the Nazis y’s, not that any such comparison is ever really valid. However, these six animals have put yidden around the world at risk. Only through the harshest of punishment IF THEY ARE FOUND GUILTY, will some of the damage be undone.
Animals are animals no matter what religion they practice. But if you are going to make such a harsh statement then you must include “All murderers” and that goes for the many Arab terrorist murderers vacationing in Israeli prisons.
As I understand the math, there are 299 Muslims to go for three Jews
All lumdus aside, is there a halachic rationale for it? Roidef? Too indirect. Retzicha is no small punishment. Not so simple!
Why don’t we hear your voice when the three bochurim were slaughtered why only when after we have had it up to here and we give these beasts a taste of their own medicine do we suddenly hear your bellowing.
I think Rabbi, go back to doing what you do best and stay out of this conversation since this isn’t your area of expertise!
Settlements rabbis shouldn’t get off that easy.
They are raising a generation by telling them there is no greater mitzvah than Shleimus Haaretz the more land Israel holds on to the bigger the mitzvah. For this Jews should bear arms walking around with guns putting entire families in danger. They don’t care about the Fogel’s etc as long as “we”keep our land. So of course these type of Jews become murderers themselves.Instead of a person like Baruch Goldstein who murdered Arabs should be looked upon like a murderer he is a hero.So is there any wonder about a few crazies murdering now an Arab boy.You rabbis are at fault by inciting Jewish settlers against Arabs.
It’s a very delicate part in Halacha how to react to the stupid killer/s who are real Murdereres. No question. But how does a rabbi speak out in public that they should be killed? As we at the point of view of the Torah can’t give out a Pesak Halacha without a Beis Din with Semiche. Those times of the Sanhadrin were able to.
FIRST execute DEATH PENALTY on all terrorists in Israeli Jails who have BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS, then you can judge these Israelis but only with a court of Sanhedrin
Why would anybody be shocked as to the despicable action, which theses killers committed? From a young age we are taught that my Rebbe’s Shita is right to the exclusion of all others. This worldview by itself is only the seed of aggression, the notion that there is only ONE derech, and you are the only tower guard left who protects the citadel.
Even in their own realm the infighting has the ferocity of a wolverine. If you disagree with someone’s view or action regardless of his age Young people will not show any respect but descend with a vengeance against these distractors.
Some years back I knew a man who was over eighty years old, being manhandled by teenagers and his shtreimel was stolen, never to been seen again and not one person came to aid.
Sorry but the foreseeable future I don’t see any changes to the morals and character of the religious factions.
Chas V’shalim!!!
How can a so called Rabbi say such a thing! When Bes Din needed to kill a Jew the “Eidem” went threw intensive questioning and ONLY in certain circumstances a Jew was killed in 70 years!!!
He should just tuck his tail between his legs and slink off into the night. For years he, and his cohorts have been exhorting their followers to defy the authorities , to settle in places where their safety cannot be guaranteed, to meet ruthless violence with ruthless violence. But when the chickens come home to roost and some impressionable teenagers follow through on his rhetoric, and commit this horrific crime he turns his back on them, and condemns them.
What a gutless weasel !
The crime is reminicent of the crimes of the Nazis and who wouldn’t want a death penalty for them?
Jews could not have committed such a horrific crime. The yichus of these fiends will show that they are not actually Jewish.
The Rabbi should go back to yeshiva , there is no such thing as a death penalty when it is a Ysroel shehorag es hoakum
This rabbi is wrong. These ppl should go to jail and released at the next prisoners exchange
I’m very happy he’s not on a bais din shel shlosha v’esrim!
Haaretz is claiming they are from Chareidi homes and are basically Yeshiva burnouts.
There is absolutely no heter to take innocent life regardless of religion, but these Zionist Rabbis are moving progressively further away from Judaism with each story.
He really believes he can use “uviarta hara mikirbecha” as a death sentence CH”V on the alleged murderers of this Arab? As a prior poster pointed out, a B”D that killed even once in seventy years was considered a “killing B”D” and it took much fact-finding, etc. before such a verdict could be rendered. And that is by a B”D, not a Zionist Rabbi.
The other poster’s point about the chickens coming home to roost after the “Religious Zionists” make yishuv and kibush haaretz as their mitzva above else and encourage living like Esav “al charbicha tichyeh” is also a very good point.
This is Zionism, not lihavdil Torah.
Maybe the rabbi should refresh his memory about Shimon and Layvee.
Palis kill Jews and they give out candy. Do you think they will search for the missing killers. Do you think they will call for the death penalty if caught.
I don’t think this Rabbi is actually serious about applying the death penalty in this case, although some or all of the perpetrators likely deserve it.
Well, now we have ourselves hating us. The arabs hate us, the press hates us, the media hates us, the United States hates us, and now we hate ourselves. Talk about the ultimate in self-hating Jews.