Extremist Rabbi Warns Yair Lapid Could Be Assassinated Like Yitzhak Rabin
Image by getty images
Israeli police launched an investigation into a well-known haredi Orthodox rabbi’s statement that Finance Minister Yair Lapid could be assassinated in the same way as Yitzhak Rabin.
Rabbi Dov Halbertal made his remarks in an interview this week on Galei Israel Radio.
“I had a guest over on Shabbat, an important scholar, and he told me something astounding that I think had a lot of truth to it,” Halbertal said. “He told me, ‘Listen, there’s going to be a new Rabin assassination; Lapid will be killed by a haredi.’”
Along with questioning Halbertal, police said they are considering tightening security around Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, the Times of Israel reported.
According to Israeli press reports, Halbertal explained that he was repeating someone else’s comment and issuing a warning, not making a threat.
Many in the haredi world are upset with Lapid because of his push for a universal draft law that would see most haredi yeshiva students drafted into Israel’s military.
Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing extremist opposed to the prime minister’s signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
