The #2 non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi rabbinic leader in Israel (and arguably worldwide, as well) Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky told the heads of Israel’s haredi United Hatzolah volunteer ambulance and paramedic organization today that they their organizations should refuse to treat wounded Palestinian terrorists until all non-terrorists have been treated, even if the terrorist is the most seriously injured of all the wounded. And, Kanievsky continued, if that terrorist is in danger of dying from his wounds, United Hatzolah should refuse to treat him and allow him to die rather than save his life.
Let Wounded Terrorists Die, Top Haredi Rabbi Rules
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The #2 non-hasidic Ashkenazi haredi rabbinic leader in Israel (and arguably worldwide, as well) Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky told the heads of Israel’s haredi United Hatzolah volunteer ambulance and paramedic organization today that they their organizations should refuse to treat wounded Palestinian terrorists until all non-terrorists have been treated, even if the terrorist is the most seriously injured of all the wounded, Arutz Sheva reported. This applies, Kanievsky said, as long as it is clear who among the wounded is and who among them is not a terrorist.
Kanievsky also said if a terrorist is so seriously wounded that s/he is in imminent danger of dying, United Hatzolah should refuse to treat the terrorist at all and should instead just let him or her die.
Besides ethical problems with Kanievsky’s ruling and the simple fact that if followed it would stop Israel’s security forces from getting intelligence information from the wounded terrorists – information that could late save other lives – the idea of not treating terrorists poses another problem. In the chaos of terror attacks innocent bystanders are often misidentified as terrorists, and sometimes they are savagely beaten and even shot as a result. In the time it would take for security forces to determine a mistake has been made, some of these innocent people could easily die of their injuries. (Indeed, something like this happened in Beer Sheva a couple months ago.) But these are problems Kanievsky apparently failed to address.