JERUSALEM: Israel’s police force said on Friday it pressed charges against a man suspected of asking a senior rabbi for religious permission to assassinate the country’s attorney general.

The 36-year-old was arrested in Jerusalem on Wednesday after delivering a letter to influential rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, requesting a decree authorising the killing of Gali Baharav-Miara.

Yosef immediately alerted the police, who traced the man to his home and took him into custody.

A court has extended his detention until Sunday.

Baharav-Miara has clashed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government since it took office in late 2022, challenging the legality of some of its decisions.

She is a frequent target of criticism from far-right and ultra-Orthodox groups, particularly for her support of the conscription of military-age men from the ultra-Orthodox community, who have long been exempted from service.

According to police, the suspect sought rabbinical authorisation to kill the attorney general in order to “preserve human lives”.

He is believed to have requested a “din rodef” — a traditional Jewish legal concept permitting the extra-judicial killing of someone deemed an imminent danger to others.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2025