Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi

Rabbi

In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 who in 2009 published a book (The King's Torah) in which he writes that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews (including children) who threaten Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The conditions under which this permission applies include presence of the assumption that a child will grow up to become an enemy of the Jewish people, to put pressure on enemy leaders, or if they are "in the way". The book was distributed by Yeshivat HaRaayon HaYehudi in Jerusalem, which adheres to the ideas of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane

Meir Kahane

Martin David Kahane , also known as Meir Kahane , was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset...

.

The book contains an endorsement by Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg

Zalman Nechemia Goldberg

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg is a rabbi, posek, and Rosh Yeshiva in Israel. The scion of a Lithuanian Jewish family, Rabbi Goldberg is also a son-in-law of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach....

. Ofer Pines, a member of the Israeli Knesset

Knesset

The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...

, called on the attorney general to open a criminal investigation against Shapira on account of the book.

Shapira was arrested under suspicion of incitement in 2006 after having advocated expelling or killing all male Palestinians above the age of 13. In 2008 he signed a "manifesto" in support of Israelis suspected of beating two Arab youths during that year's Holocaust Remembrance Day. In January 2010, Shapira was arrested for his "alleged involvement in the torching of a Palestinian mosque in the village of Yasuf

Yasuf

Yasuf is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, northeast of Salfit, southwest of Nablus and adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 1,761 in...

." He denied any involvement, and was released due to lack of evidence.

In October 2010, he urged Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

 soldiers to use Palestinian civilians as human shield

Human shield

Human shield is a military and political term describing the deliberate placement of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also refer to the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in...

s, claiming that it was against "true Jewish values" for a soldier to endanger his life for the sake of enemy soldiers or civilians.

Shapira lives in the West Bank

West Bank

The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...

 Israeli settlement Yitzhar

Yitzhar

Yitzhar is an Israeli settlement located in the West Bank south of the city of Nablus just off Route 60, north of the Tapuach Junction. The predominantly Orthodox Jewish community with a population of 895 is within the municipal jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council...

 and is the head of the Dorshei Yihudcha yeshiva there. According to Haaretz

Haaretz

Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...

 columnist Akiva Eldar

Akiva Eldar

Akiva Eldar is an Israeli journalist and author, currently a chief political columnist and editorial writer for the liberal Israeli national daily Ha'aretz. His columns also appear regularly in the Ha'aretz-International Herald Tribune edition, as well as in the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun...

, Shapira's yeshiva receives substantial funding from the Israeli government. His intellectual influences include Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook

Abraham Isaac Kook

Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...

 and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburg.