Q&A: The Latest Video of the Female Hostage
The Latest Video of the Female Hostage
Question
Hello Rabbi,
If there is a video of one of the hostages that the family asks people not to watch, is there any halakhic/moral problem with watching the video?
Best regards,
Answer
In my opinion, no. Maybe it’s better not to spread it around, because that harms them and their situation right now is difficult. But even regarding that, if in your opinion it is important, there is no obligation to listen to them. And in general, a family does not have ownership over one of its members.
Discussion on Answer
Definitely.
I didn’t understand. What kind of response are you referring to? To protest?
From a military standpoint, should one perhaps, for example, bomb the tunnels with their occupants, including the hostages, in order to prevent their being tortured?
In my opinion, no.
That could be manipulation, and it is also hard to arrive at a clear assessment of their wishes. And it is also not clear that all of them are going through this, or that all of them would prefer death.
If there is a video of a hostage showing him naked or in a humiliating situation, would we then assess that presumably he would not want people to watch it, and therefore it would be forbidden to watch it?
And another question: how should one respond if Hamas publish severed limbs of hostages?