Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane asked Rabbi Dr. Itamar Varhaftig, a lecturer in Jewish Law at Bar Ilan University, about the above issue: "The Arad family says that these two 'bargaining chips,' who were captured specifically for Ron Arad, are now, it appears, being used for the release of someone else. Is this permitted by Jewish Law?"
Rabbi Varhaftig: "The facts are of course not totally clear, but we can say that this is related to the question of whether one may save one person at the expense of someone else. If two people stand before us, and in order to save one, we have to kill the other, this is of course not permitted. But in this case, we have one person [Tannenbaum] who is, in a sense, 'before us,' as we know that he is alive, and another [Arad] who is not, i.e., we don't know if he is alive or not... The question is, then, if the 'deal' is a good one - in which case, we can't pass it up because of the doubt that maybe Ron Arad is alive and being hidden somewhere. This is the best that the army thinks that it can achieve under the circumstances."
A-7: "The family feels that returning Dirani and Obeid will close the door on any possibility of negotiating for Ron in the future."
Rabbi Varhaftig:
"So maybe they won't release all of them, or maybe they'll capture others - this is not a Halakhic question, but rather a policy issue. The army knows how to deal with these matters...
"The Halakhic issue comes into play in other areas, however. The Mishna says that we must not pay for captives 'more than they are worth.' This could be for two reasons: to avoid impoverishing the public, which does not apply in our situation... or to avoid being blackmailed again and again when the kidnappers see that it is worth their while - and this is certainly a relevant consideration today. The question then becomes, what is the captive's worth? If the captive is a slave, then we can see what he is worth on the market. But nowadays of course, this is hard to measure... One captive for 1,000 appears to be totally out of proportion. But one for some other number - I can't even set a figure, but something more reasonable - could be appropriate.
"But then another problem arises: The Torah forbids us to release murderers... However, this prohibition is just like others in that it is waived if there is a danger to life - in this case, the life of Elchanan Tannenbaum. I would suggest, however, two things, if we could: We should not release genuine murderers, those with 'blood on their hands,' and the other is to expel them from Israel, so that at least they should not be released into our midst."
Rabbi Varhaftig: "The facts are of course not totally clear, but we can say that this is related to the question of whether one may save one person at the expense of someone else. If two people stand before us, and in order to save one, we have to kill the other, this is of course not permitted. But in this case, we have one person [Tannenbaum] who is, in a sense, 'before us,' as we know that he is alive, and another [Arad] who is not, i.e., we don't know if he is alive or not... The question is, then, if the 'deal' is a good one - in which case, we can't pass it up because of the doubt that maybe Ron Arad is alive and being hidden somewhere. This is the best that the army thinks that it can achieve under the circumstances."
A-7: "The family feels that returning Dirani and Obeid will close the door on any possibility of negotiating for Ron in the future."
Rabbi Varhaftig:
"So maybe they won't release all of them, or maybe they'll capture others - this is not a Halakhic question, but rather a policy issue. The army knows how to deal with these matters...
"The Halakhic issue comes into play in other areas, however. The Mishna says that we must not pay for captives 'more than they are worth.' This could be for two reasons: to avoid impoverishing the public, which does not apply in our situation... or to avoid being blackmailed again and again when the kidnappers see that it is worth their while - and this is certainly a relevant consideration today. The question then becomes, what is the captive's worth? If the captive is a slave, then we can see what he is worth on the market. But nowadays of course, this is hard to measure... One captive for 1,000 appears to be totally out of proportion. But one for some other number - I can't even set a figure, but something more reasonable - could be appropriate.
"But then another problem arises: The Torah forbids us to release murderers... However, this prohibition is just like others in that it is waived if there is a danger to life - in this case, the life of Elchanan Tannenbaum. I would suggest, however, two things, if we could: We should not release genuine murderers, those with 'blood on their hands,' and the other is to expel them from Israel, so that at least they should not be released into our midst."