In yesterday's NY Times, there was an Op-Ed entitled, Protect Sharon from the Right. While reading this piece, I was highly disturbed by the report that a certain well respected Rabbi said that if an Israeli gives back land, the person could be the target of a rabbinically sanctioned murder, implying that Sharon might be liable for death. While giving back land might be seen as endangering lives, this is no excuse to basically say that it is religiously correct to assassinate someone. Did the Orthodox Rabbinate in Israel not learn from the fallout of the assassination of Rabin? I grant that being in America, it is not my place to say something, but I agree with the author of this op-ed, who ended his article by saying,

The mainstream Orthodox rabbinate - in America and in Israel - failed nine years
ago to defend Yitzhak Rabin against extremism. It could be doing a great deal
more today to prevent the murder of Ariel Sharon.

Assassination by any group is wrong. Just because we do not agree with someone's policies doesn't make it right to kill them.