Rabbi Hershel Schachter apologized for saying Israel’s prime minister should be shot if he gives away Jerusalem.
When asked if Jews should serve in the Israeli army, Schachter, a top rabbi at Yeshiva University, said, “If the army is going to give away Jerusalem, then I would tell everyone to resign from the army – I’d tell them to shoot” the prime minister. A video of the remarks was broadcast on YouTube.
“No one should go to the army if they [the army] are doing” sins,” the rabbi continued, according to the New York Jewish Week. “We’re talking if the army is seeing to it that the country is secure, if they’re doing the right thing. I’m not sure if the army is doing the right thing. We have to look into that.”
Schachter issued a statement of apology on Thursday.
“Statements I made informally have been publicly excerpted this week,” Schachter said. “I deeply regret such statements and apologize for them. They were uttered spontaneously, off the cuff, and were not meant seriously. And, they do not, God forbid, represent my views. Jewish law demands respect for representatives of the Jewish government and the state of Israel.”
