Q&A: Kill the One Who Rises to Kill You
Kill the One Who Rises to Kill You
Question
In Ronen Bergman’s book about the killing of Shehadeh, it is described that after he was killed, together with a number of innocent people, reservist pilots from the unit came under criticism and were accused of murder. There was also a great deal of criticism from many retired pilots and fighters from elite reconnaissance units.
My question is whether there is a moral problem with that killing of innocent people. Assuming that the operation to eliminate him was canceled many times because innocent people were present, and in light of the fact that this same Shehadeh continued to murder Israelis after those canceled operations, and with no other choice.
Is it permissible to rise up and kill someone who rises up to kill you even at the cost of killing innocent people, after all the other options have been exhausted?
Answer
Yes, in reasonable proportion (proportionately). See my article about this here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%99%D7%91%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%90%D7%A7%D7%98%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%98-%D7%95%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%9C-%D7%95%D7%93
And also in my lectures on the relationship between the collective and the individual, where I discussed the connection between right and left and the moral debate over harming innocent people.