Settler Rabbi: Killing innocent people in war is allowed if saves lives
Rabbi Dov Lior, chairman of the settler’s rabbinical council ruled that killing civilians during warfare is permitted if it will save lives.
Uri Glickman
www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=7626
(2004-05-19 21:52:27.0)
The IDF are allowed to hurt so called innocent civilians during warfare, Chairman of the Yesha rabbinical council (Judea, Samaria and Gaza Strip), Rabbi Dov Lior, said in a Halachic (Jewish law) ruling made public Wednesday.
“The law of our Torah is to have mercy on our soldiers and to save them. This is the real moral behind Israel’s Torah and we must not feel guilty due to foreign morals,” Lior said.
Sources close to the Rabbi explained that Lior made the remarks Tuesday night and they had nothing to do with Wednesday’s events in Gaza. The IDF is allowed to use all means at its disposal to defeat terrorism “even if it means ‘innocent’ people are killed”, the sources said.
The religious community did not publicly condemn Rabbi Lior’s ruling but warned against its implications. “It is a dangerous step that could test all religious IDF commanders taking part in the current fighting”, sources in the Yesha community told Maariv.
Webmaster note: I wonder if this rabbinical sanction extends to German treatment of enemy aliens such as Jews during the Second World War?