The arrest of the man who threatened to kill Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara was extended by authorities on Thursday until today.
The suspect, a 36-year-old from Jerusalem, was first arrested on Wednesday after the director-general of the Religious Services Ministry, Yehuda Avidan, alerted police to a letter received by former Sephardi chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
The letter, written by a civilian – the suspect – requested that Yosef approve applying the halachic principle of din rodef (“the law of the pursuer”) to the A-G. The principle is that if someone (the rodef/pursuer) actively attempts to kill or cause grave harm to another person, it is permissible – even obligatory – to stop them, including through lethal force if necessary.
Due to its gravity, this principle is used sparingly if at all, and requires permission from a halachic authority (barring an emergency active situation). This is what the suspect requested from Yosef.
At a hearing on Thursday to extend his arrest, a police representative told the court, “The suspect tied himself directly to the incident; he admitted that his plan was to kill the attorney-general, if he could secure approval from the most respected and legitimate religious authorities.”
The suspect arrived at Yosef’s office on Wednesday and requested to speak with him. When he was denied, he presented the letter instead.
The police representative said, “The writing is on the wall,” and noted that police would prefer to comb through the suspect’s computers and cell phones, as well as to check for the possible involvement of anyone else.
The lawyer representing the suspect noted that though the plan is horrid, no action was taken to manifest the threat, adding that the suspect has a background of mental health issues.
A-G Baharav-Miara’s firing and its fight with the government
Tensions between the government and the Attorney-General’s Office, the country’s lead prosecutor and chief interpreter of the law, have been consistently high and have hobbled from one issue to the next for months. A ministerial committee voted to fire her earlier this month, but the decision has been frozen by the Supreme Court, and is pending judicial review.
It is commonly asserted that, for the various factions of the government, the A-G represents different types of threats. The religious context in which this is relevant – and would include in it halachic principles relating to murder – would be the insistence on a draft law that would be applied as equally as possible. This is particularly relevant to the ultra-Orthodox (haredi) community, which seeks to protect its communal structures, including men studying Torah in yeshiva during the relevant years they would otherwise be drafted to the military.
The coalition has been nearly torn apart over a lack of legislation on the matter, as haredi parties threatened to leave the government, and the war drags on, bringing with it more draft call-ups and extensions of service to reservists.