Q&A: Using a Human Shield to Protect Our Forces
Using a Human Shield to Protect Our Forces
Question
A report was published today in Haaretz (assuming the report is accurate, of course), according to which the IDF uses Gazan civilians, who have not been shown to be connected to terrorist activity or anything of the sort, as a human shield—that is, they send them first into locations/tunnels, etc., so that if, God forbid, something happens, our soldiers will not be injured.
Assuming this is the only way to maximize the protection of our soldiers, is this, in your opinion, morally justified or not? (I don’t know whether the IDF pays them, and whether they do this willingly or not, and in any case that seems to me irrelevant to the question itself.)
Answer
Completely justified. Even killing them, if necessary.
Discussion on Answer
And what would the Rabbi say about the statement: “For God has heard the voice of the lad where he is,”
which Rashi explains: “Where he is — he is judged according to the deeds he is doing now, and not according to what he is destined to do. For the ministering angels were prosecuting and saying: Master of the Universe, for one whose descendants will one day kill Your children by thirst, You are bringing up a well for him?! And He answered them: What is he now, righteous or wicked? They said to Him: Righteous. He said to them: I judge him according to his present deeds, and this is ‘where he is.’”
Before the cries of anguish, it’s worth using your head for a moment.
Who said anything about punishment? No one is killing them as punishment. If there is no choice but to kill them in order to defend ourselves and/or win the war, then it is permitted, and they should be killed. What does that have to do with guilt? Is a minor pursuer guilty? And yet we kill him because he threatens us. They are killed under the law of a pursuer, not as punishment. See my article here:
https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&cx=f18e4f052adde49eb&q=https://mikyab.net/%25D7%259B%25D7%25AA%25D7%2591%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%259E%25D7%2590%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2599%25D7%259D/%25D7%2594%25D7%2599%25D7%2591%25D7%2598%25D7%2599%25D7%259D-%25D7%2590%25D7%25A7%25D7%2598%25D7%2595%25D7%2590%25D7%259C%25D7%2599%25D7%2599%25D7%259D-%25D7%259C%25D7%2591%25D7%25A2%25D7%2599%25D7%2599%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2594%25D7%25A4%25D7%2598-%25D7%2595%25D7%2594%25D7%259B%25D7%259C%25D7%259C-%25D7%2595%25D7%2593/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiKm73y9_KHAxXmVvEDHScPFeoQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw3emOjxLM3l-8yhYuujO9fo
I have no problem at all with their use of civilians as human shields. My complaint against them is that afterward they complain about civilians being killed, and I also have a complaint against the world and against us for taking that shield and those wailings into account. By the way, that is exactly what causes them to use civilians as shields.
It would be good to adopt a morality grounded in the head and not in the gut.
Dd and Rabbi Michi are talking about two different things. Dd wrote that the IDF uses Palestinians as a human shield, whereas Rabbi Michi wrote that Hamas uses them as a human shield.
It’s exactly the same thing. I was referring to both.
Using enemy civilians as a human shield is a war crime par excellence, even when fighting a regime that was democratically elected. Shame.
Rabbi Michi, are you also talking about civilians who have no part in fighting against us?
And if so, why?
I referred you to my article on the matter. Read there.
How is this justified?
Is it moral to kill people without checking that they are guilty?!
“Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?!”
Would the Rabbi say the same thing if they took Gazan children or women as human shields,
or only regarding males?
What makes killing innocent people (and the assumption is that any person who has not been shown to be wicked is presumed innocent) something moral?
And if the Rabbi says it is moral, then why do we rebuke them for their cynical and ugly use of innocent civilians as human shields?
Isn’t that hypocrisy?