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Innocent Casualties of War

Answered by Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld

Question

What are the Torah’s rulings on war? Is it ok to kill women and children in a war?

Answer

There are different types of wars. It’s not OK to kill women and children intentionally, but it depends on the circumstances.

Thus, when Hizbollah launches missiles at civilian areas with the intention of killing civilians, that is murder.

However, when Israel launches at a home that contains a rocket-launcher in order to stop the attacks, that is self-defense.

However, you should know that:

a) the government of Israel does not seek guidance from the Torah

b) when women and children are killed accidentally, the Israelis – and in fact all Jews – mourn. In contrast, Hizbollah and Hamas supporters are happy because they believe these women and children are “martyrs”. They are even happier when they kill Jewish women and children. Golda Meir said, “We will one day forgive you Mr. Arafat for killing our children, but we will never forgive you for forcing us to kill your children.”

You should ask the same question of an Imam about the Koran – does the Koran allow Hizbollah and Hamas to kill women and children INTENTIONALLY?

Please see this video

Follow-up question

[In response to a question:]
There are 3 types of war – a mitzvah war, a voluntary war and a defensive war.

A mitzvah war is when God tells us (via a certified prophet) to go to war, and we have to assume that He knows what He’s talking about and taking care of any innocents who need to be taken care of.

A voluntary war is also sanctioned by a certified prophet and had to follow certain rules.

A defensive war doesn’t require Divine approval – the basic rule is if they are attacking you, you have an obligation to defend yourself. If “they” are a city or community, then of course, as you say, we try to get only the bad guys and are not allowed to intentionally kill innocents. But we do not need to stand by and let them kill us without a response just because we risk killing an innocent person with them.

Notice how this is different from jihad ideology. In jihad, they intentionally kill women and children.