Sixteen fathers and brothers of two suicide terrorists petitioned the Court today against their possible expulsion from Judea and Samaria to Gaza - but then withdrew their suit. They canceled their petitions after the State Prosecution made it clear that it had no immediate plans to deport family members of suicide terrorists to Gaza. The Prosecution said that in any event it would provide 12 hours advance notice before doing so.
Objections have been heard from various quarters, international and domestic, against the intention to fight suicide terrorists by deporting their surviving family members to Gaza. Lt.-Col. (res.) Rabbi Moshe Hager, head of the military preparatory yeshiva in Yatir (south of Hevron), spoke with Arutz-7\'s Ariel Kahane today about the military and ethical aspects of the deportation idea. He said that merely talking about deportation has already borne fruit:
\"Just during these past few days in which we have been talking about this idea, we have seen that parents of potential suicide bombers have called the IDF to warn that their son has left home and may be on his way to an attack. This shows that the deterrence is strong, and the idea of deportation can produce results. There are no 100% solutions, but this is an important part of our war.\"
In response to the claim that actions of this nature might merely encourage another generation of suicide terrorists, Lt.-Col. Rabbi Hager said, \"I believe this is wrong. The way to fight terrorism is via military operations, and Operation Defensive Shield showed that there is a military solution for this problem. This is the language that our enemies understand. When we demolished their headquarters in Hevron, they saw that we mean business...\"
\"It is claimed,\" Arutz-7\'s Kahane said, \"that it is unethical to punish family members for crimes of others. How do you respond to this?\" Answer:
\"The ethical imperative is that war must be shortened, and the way to do this is by taking strong and sharp measures, and not by dragging things out. We must make it clear that we do not agree to the establishment of an armed Palestinian state like there has been until now, and giving this clear message will cut down on the number of casualties... Torah ethics demand that we do what we can to end war, and this is our way - the way of King David, not the way of King Sha\'ul, and the way of Maimonides who wrote that there is legitimacy to [collective] punishment... Those who quote the verse \'Each person will die for his own sin\' do not understand that this verse applies only in peacetime, but in war there are different rules altogether. When bullets are shot, in order to stop them, you must look at the whole array, including the family that stands behind and encourages the shooters... In that sense, they are also guilty - but even if they weren\'t, the ethical imperative during wartime is to shorten the war, and all the security elements agree that this measure would help lead to fewer attacks...\"
Objections have been heard from various quarters, international and domestic, against the intention to fight suicide terrorists by deporting their surviving family members to Gaza. Lt.-Col. (res.) Rabbi Moshe Hager, head of the military preparatory yeshiva in Yatir (south of Hevron), spoke with Arutz-7\'s Ariel Kahane today about the military and ethical aspects of the deportation idea. He said that merely talking about deportation has already borne fruit:
\"Just during these past few days in which we have been talking about this idea, we have seen that parents of potential suicide bombers have called the IDF to warn that their son has left home and may be on his way to an attack. This shows that the deterrence is strong, and the idea of deportation can produce results. There are no 100% solutions, but this is an important part of our war.\"
In response to the claim that actions of this nature might merely encourage another generation of suicide terrorists, Lt.-Col. Rabbi Hager said, \"I believe this is wrong. The way to fight terrorism is via military operations, and Operation Defensive Shield showed that there is a military solution for this problem. This is the language that our enemies understand. When we demolished their headquarters in Hevron, they saw that we mean business...\"
\"It is claimed,\" Arutz-7\'s Kahane said, \"that it is unethical to punish family members for crimes of others. How do you respond to this?\" Answer:
\"The ethical imperative is that war must be shortened, and the way to do this is by taking strong and sharp measures, and not by dragging things out. We must make it clear that we do not agree to the establishment of an armed Palestinian state like there has been until now, and giving this clear message will cut down on the number of casualties... Torah ethics demand that we do what we can to end war, and this is our way - the way of King David, not the way of King Sha\'ul, and the way of Maimonides who wrote that there is legitimacy to [collective] punishment... Those who quote the verse \'Each person will die for his own sin\' do not understand that this verse applies only in peacetime, but in war there are different rules altogether. When bullets are shot, in order to stop them, you must look at the whole array, including the family that stands behind and encourages the shooters... In that sense, they are also guilty - but even if they weren\'t, the ethical imperative during wartime is to shorten the war, and all the security elements agree that this measure would help lead to fewer attacks...\"