Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Tsfat, on Friday posted on his Facebook page a ruling permitting desecration of Shabbat in order to shoot Arabs who appear to be in the middle of starting a fire.
The inquiry was: “If on Shabbat (or a weekday) one sees Arabs approaching a forest near our community and intend to or are in the process of setting fire to it, is it permissible to desecrate Shabbat in order to stop them, call police and/or shoot them.”
Rabbi Eliyahu’s response was: “The Prime Minister has defined arson as an act of terrorism. One GSS senior official called it a weapon of mass destruction. By a miracle people have not been burned alive, but we are not supposed to rely on miracles.
“Surely it is permitted and commanded to desecrate Shabbat in order to stop the fire and the arsonists, and if need be – shoot them as well.
“If in Beit Meir, Carmiel, or Haifa they had shot the arsonists, we would have been spared this catastrophe.
by David Israel