Ultra-Orthodox Extremist Arrested After Seeking Rabbinical Approval to Assassinate Israel’s Attorney General

Jerusalem police announced on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) that they had arrested a 36-year-old ultra-Orthodox man suspected of plotting to assassinate Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. The suspect reportedly sent a handwritten letter to former Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, asking for a halakhic ruling that would permit him to carry out the attack.

The letter, discovered outside Rabbi Yosef’s residence in central Jerusalem, described Baharav-Miara as part of an “evil regime desecrating God’s name” and declared:

“I am ready to kill the Attorney General if I receive approval from three sages of the generation. Without their consent, I will do nothing.”

Rabbi Yosef’s response was unequivocal: “Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden!” His office immediately alerted the Ministry of Religious Services, which passed the threat on to police together with CCTV footage of the suspect.

Within hours, detectives from the Lev HaBira precinct tracked him down at his home in southern Jerusalem and placed him under arrest.

He is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for a remand hearing.

Background: Draft Law Tensions

The incident comes amid tensions over Israel’s contentious military draft law, particularly regarding exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Attorney General Baharav-Miara has recently pushed the IDF to meet recruitment targets and strengthen enforcement against draft evasion, drawing fierce criticism from ultra-Orthodox leaders.

In recent weeks, Baharav-Miara and her deputies, Avital Sompolinsky and Gil Limon, have also pressed for tighter conditions on state subsidies for daycare and childcare benefits, insisting that eligibility must be tied to resolving one’s military status. This move, backed by a Supreme Court ruling, is viewed by many in the Haredi community as an attack on their way of life.

In a statement, police emphasized that they would act firmly against anyone attempting to intimidate or harm public officials:

“We will not tolerate threats or violence against elected officials or civil servants. Anyone who chooses this path will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.”

This is not the first time extremist elements have invoked Jewish law to justify violence against state officials.

The concept of “din rodef”, an ancient ruling that permits killing someone who threatens Jewish lives, has been used in the past, most notoriously in the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.