Religious Violence 83

lims are not idolaters and fall into the category of resident aliens and may be settled in the Land of Israel.”

Similarly, the late chief rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Herzog ruled that non-Jews who are not idolaters should not be prevented from settling in the Land of Israel, even though they have not stood before a Jewish religious court and formally accepted the seven Noahide commandments.

In contrast, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, the former chief rabbi, claimed that it is forbidden to evacuate any of the territories, because the Torah commanded us“lo tahanem—you shall not let them settle in the Land” and the Sages interpreted this to mean: "lo titen lanem nanaya bakarka— you shall not allow the goyim to settle in the Land.” Rabbi Goren pronounced:“Evacuating set­tlements in Judea and Samaria in order to deliver them to the Arabs is a grievous sin against the Torah.”

We have seen that halakhic verdicts can have great influence on acts of violence. Yigal Amir, the convicted murderer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was apparently influenced by these teach­ings. The following is a dialogue between Amir and the remand­ing judge in the magistrates court at the time of his arraignment:

AMIR: There is a p'sak halakhah(halakhic verdict) which establishes that it is permitted to kill someone who gives away part of the Eretz Israel. According to the halakhah, the moment that a Jew delivers up (moser) his people and land into the hand of a gentile, we are oblig­ated to kill him.

JUDGE: What rabbi taught you this halakhah?

AMIR: No one taught this to me. I have studied Talmud all my life... There are taryag mitzoot(613 commandments) in the Torah JUDGE: Have the Ten Commandments been nullified? AMIR:The Ten Commandments have not been eliminated, but there is a divine command that is higher than thou shalt not mur­der. That is saving life. It is the same as when you kill the enemy in war there is a higher purpose and therefore it is permitted. If the Prime minister declares that he is not responsible for the security of 2 percent of the population(the settlers in the territories) and shakes the hand of the master murder(Arafat) and frees terrorists from prison... he is not my prime minister.”

We note that there are two halakhic accusations against the Prime minister, which in the eyes of the murderer and those who are like minded, justify his execution. The two capital charges, in

Clr view, are those of moser and rodef.