Court convicts Israeli for saying it’s OK to kill cop during settlement razing

The Lod District Court convicts an Israeli from the flashpoint northern West Bank settlement of Yitzhar for inciting violence after he wrote in a social media post that there is no religious law against killing a police officer during the demolition of a Jewish home.

In its ruling, the court accepts an appeal from state prosecutors and overturns a 2019 decision that found Nahum Shalom Ariel not guilty on charges of inciting violence and insulting a public servant.

After security forces razed a number of illegal structures in Yitzhar in 2014, a resident of the town wrote in an online community forum that she supported throwing rocks at police officers carrying out such demolitions even if it would lead to their deaths.

“There is no halachic problem in killing a soldier during an overnight demolition,” Ariel responded, saying he did not see any reason why under religious law such an officer would not be considered a thief whom one is allowed to kill in self-defense.

— Jacob Magid