JEWISH PRESS
Chief Rabbi: Mitzvah to Kill Terrorists
by David Israel
March 13, 2016

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef on Saturday night told his students at the Yazdi synagogue in Jerusalem that when a terrorist approaches you with a knife, you are commanded to kill him. “If a terrorist reached someone with a knife — it’s a mitzvah to kill him,” the Chief Rabbi taught, citing the Midrashic statement “He who comes to kill you, kill him first.” (Bamidbar Rabba 21:4; Tankhuma Pinkhas c. 3)…“Don’t fear what the high court would do to you, or that some chief of staff would come and say something else,” the chief rabbi insisted. “You needn’t fear.” Rabbi Yosef added that his approach would also serve as a deterrence. “Once the terrorist knows that if he shows up with a knife he doesn’t go back alive – this will deter them, which is why it’s a mitzvah to kill him.” READ MORE