Question

According to Jewish law, saving the life of a non-Jew does not override the Sabbath. On its face, there is a moral difficulty here.
One of the explanations is that desecrating the Sabbath is itself a prohibition in the category of “be killed rather than transgress,” and therefore it is forbidden to desecrate the Sabbath in order to save a non-Jew. But when saving a Jew there is an additional consideration: it is preferable that he desecrate one Sabbath so that he may keep many Sabbaths.
I don’t find that convincing.
Another explanation relies on the Jewish law that permits saving them for the sake of peaceful relations, and according to this, that law expresses the tension between the halakhic prohibition and the dictate of conscience. That is, “for the sake of peaceful relations” does not mean so that non-Jews will not take revenge on Jews; rather, “peaceful relations” means that one is permitted to save them because this is the dictate of conscience, and it overrides the prohibition against desecrating the Sabbath.
I would be glad to hear the Rabbi’s opinion, both about these explanations and about the question itself.
Thank you very much.