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Psak 5768 Adar II 5


The Sanhedrin, being the authorized institution to decide in military matters, issues definitive moral guidance on this matter and addresses the current administration's defense policy. This ruling not only derides the government for failing to use internationally accepted means for battling a wartime enemy, but also raises concern about the possible use of security forces to manipulate public opinion.[1]

Informal translation from Hebrew of the 5 Adar II, 5768 (12 March 2008) statement:

SanhedrinLogo.png
Permanent Court of the Sanhedrin
8 Beer Sheva St., Jerusalem

After the slaughter in the "Merkaz HaRav" rabbinical college [in Jerusalem],
Concerning military retaliation

The Jews are not sheep, and they will not go like lambs to the butcher. The Jewish people will find the way to strike at their enemies. The Jewish people have tremendous patience in this matter.

Military reprisals are not disallowed [by law]. Indeed it is a legal consideration in any system of law. When a proper hearing is not possible [such as wartime situations, or where the combatants are not part of any legal system], reprisals are one of the principles of maintaining justice, and derive from the rights of man and his basic freedoms; there is not a legal system that does not recognize and define the legal limits of reprisals. [As our sages have said:] Great is the retribution that is given between the two names of G-d, as it is said "O L-rd, Thou G-d to whom vengeance belongeth, Thou G-d to whom vengeance belongeth, shine forth". (Psalms 94:1)

Insofar as the defense forces do not strive for justice from our enemies, they abandon the legal obligation of retaliation [against rouge combatants, or a state which has declared war against us]. In the same measure that the government of the Jewish State does not function as a government of the Jewish people, rather as a government that renounces [its rights] -- in exactly the same measure it abandons its responsibility to safeguard the Jewish people.

[Instead of the government invoking its right, it neutralizes any opposition by turning a well defined legal course of action into extremism.] The security establishment announces that there is incitement in the air. In every instance of terrorism, there is fear to take any retaliatory action, what is different today than yesterday?! Why does the security establishment see fit to send out warnings now more than during any other instance of terrorist mass murder?!

Just like the days that preceded the still unexplained assassination of Rabin, there were notices by the security establishment, apparently at the instigation of Prime Minister Rabin himself, through his agents (as determined by the government's own Shamgar inquiry), showing Rabin in the clothes of the Nazi S.S.

Also today, the representatives of the security establishment do not cease to talk, "As a dog that returns to his vomit, [so a fool repeats his folly]." (Proverbs 26:11). They return to flood the public's mind with "Rabbis who seek revenge", saying "these are instigators seeking to provoke a civil war". Thus people who are trying to follow Jewish law are divorced and stigmatized by the public, thrown outside public consensus. It is difficult to hide from the nagging thought that the reporters who publish these article in such language, are themselves working in cooperation, and perhaps as agents of [a politically motivated] security establishment.

We know with certainty that G-d will find a way to exact retribution in His own way and to its fullest extent, as it is written: "I am magnified and sanctified before the eyes of many nations". This [divine] retribution is more terrible than any terrorist attack. The Rabbis do not wipe clean the guilt of those who enable such destruction, the Israeli elite who chase after the Jewish people to make them their tool. Even if we do not lift a finger, there is no forgetfulness before G-d.

Those who ran away from Gaza, from Lebanon, and from the Temple Mount, and who today run away from Jerusalem; those who dishonor the name of God before the nations; those who portray Israel as a conquer of nations - it is these who bring upon us destruction. Those who bring murderers to our land to dwell here, deep will be their punishment.

May the students and teachers of the rabbinical college Merkaz HaRav, live and be blessed -- that did not warmly greet those who deal subversively with their murderers.

Click here to see the Hebrew version

References

  1. PsyOps or Psychological Warfare Operations are units of the military designed to swing public opinion. Special agents known as 'provocateurs' are trained to blend in with the crowd, dress as civilians, and show up at carefully coordinated times with the camera crews to create a media 'happening'. Although rare, their use in Israel is documented: "This week the Israeli PsyOps division was reassembled after being largely dormant for five years." IDF reviving psychological warfare unit, by Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, January 25, 2005. It is not clear that the manipulation of public opinion of civilians by security forces is considered illegal (as it is in many countries) or even unethical by secular Israeli law.

This ruling in the news

  • Religious fuel for the bonfire This phenomenon is connected to the "halakhic rulings" of the "New Sanhedrin," published after the murder of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva students: "So long as the security forces do not deal with our enemies, leaving the duty of vengeance to others... likewise the government of the Jewish State is not conducting itself as a Jewish government but as an alien government, assuming its responsibility for safeguarding Jews in precisely the same [negligent] way." (Haaretz) (March 22, 2008 Adar2 16, 5768)
  • דלק דתי למדורה התופעה הזאת מתקשרת ל"פסק ההלכה" של "הסנהדרין החדשה", שפורסם לאחר רצח תלמידי ישיבת מרכז הרב וקבע: "ככל שכוחות הביטחון אינם עושים משפט באויבינו, הם מטילים את חובת הנקמה על זולתם... באותה מידה בה ממשלה במדינת היהודים אינה פועלת כממשלה יהודית אלא כממשלה מתנכרת, באותו שיעור בדיוק היא מטילה את האחריות לשלום על היהודים". (ט"ז באדר) (Haaretz)
  • "כ יודעים: המפגינים בד"כ לא לוחצים על ההדק אחת הפסיקות הרבניות שהגדירו את הנקמה כ"אחד מיסודות הצדק", ורמזה לאפשרות שיחידים ייטלו את החוק לידיהם, היא זו של "הסנהדרין החדשה", שניתנה רק לפני כמה ימים. "בית הדין הקבוע" של הסנהדרין הזאת קבע כי "ככל שכוחות הביטחון אינם עושים משפט באויבינו - הם מטילים את חובת הנקמה על זולתם", (באדר ב תשס"ח, 2008 .3 .18 ) (Haaretz)
  • Shin Bet.com Israel's covert security agency, the Shin Bet, has deployed a sophisticated new weapon: the blog. (17/03/2008) (Haaretz)
  • New Sanhedrin Accuses Shabak of Agitation Members of the New Sanhedrin have issued a statement accusing the General Security Services (Shabak) of political agitation for its self-reported in-depth investigations into the possibility of revenge attacks (9 Adar Bet 5768, March 16, '08) (Arutz-7)
  • "נקמה איננה דבר פסול" לאחר כינון "הסנהדרין החדשה" הוקם בית הדין לענייני עם ומדינה, המהווה גוף לא רשמי שפועל לפי חוקי ההלכה ומקובל על אנשי ימין קיצוני (16/3/2008) (NRG)
  • הסנהדרין: נקמה אינה דבר פסול בית הדין של הסנהדרין קובע כי מאחר שלא מתבצעת נקמה על-ידי הממשלה והצבא, יש לבצע אותה בידי יחידים "יהודים אינם כבשים ולא ילכו כצאן לטבח" 12/03/2008 (NFC)