Yitzhak Shapira

Who is Yitzhak Shapira?

Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who lives in the West Bank Israeli settlement Yitzhar and is head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva.

In 2009 he published a book in which he writes that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews who threaten the lives of Jews. The book states "There is a reason to kill babies [on the enemy side] even if they have not transgressed the seven Noahide Laws because of the future danger they may present, since it is assumed that they will grow up to be evil like their parents." They can be killed indirectly to put pressure on enemy leaders, or if they are "in the way". They can also be harmed if they "prevent a rescue, because their presence contributes to murder". He also writes that children of the king can be harmed to pressure him if he is wicked and harming them will prevent him from acting wickedly. He adds that "it is better to kill one pursuing another to murder him, than to kill others." The book was distributed by Yeshivat HaRaayon HaYehudi in Jerusalem, which adheres to the ideas of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Yehuda Bauer described the book as a "mortal danger to the Jewish people as a whole". Ofer Pines, a member of the Israeli Knesset, called on the attorney general to open a criminal investigation against Shapira on account of the book.