The 'Hannibal Protocol'... Halachically sound?

[muman613]

I have recently heard about the 'Hannibal Protocol' a set of military guidelines intended to prevent having a soldier taken hostage by an enemy which seeks to use kidnapped IDF soldiers as pawns. In order to prevent this the IDF has a guide which instructs a soldier to fire on his own rather than allow him to be taken hostage.

It is a hard call, in my opinion, whether this protocol is completely legal according to Jewish halacha. I would think that a Jew having to shoot a Jew would be a violation of a commandment. But if anyone has any comment on whether they think this protocol of shooting a friendly soldier in order to prevent him from being kidnapped is a good one...




http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/10/idf-to-develop-universal-interpretation.html

You will recall that in a post last week, I discussed the Hannibal Protocol, a guideline for IDF commanders that prefers dead IDF soldiers to kidnapped IDF soldiers. It seems that until now, the Hannibal Protocol was open to interpretation by individual commanders. That's about to change.

The "Hannibal protocol" became official in the 1980s. It stipulates that IDF soldiers must prevent the abduction of a living soldier at any cost including opening fire at the abductors' vehicle. The protocol takes into consideration the fact that the captive soldier may be killed, with the guiding principle being that a dead soldier is better than a kidnapped soldier in the eyes of the State of Israel which will be forced to pay a heavy price for the captive.

In practice, each commander gives his own interpretation of the order to his men. On the eve of Operation Cast Lead, for example, a Golani battalion commander told his soldiers that if they find themselves in danger of being kidnapped they must blow themselves up using a grenade.

Former Nahal Brigade commander Col. Motti Baruch instructed his men to do everything in their power to prevent kidnappings including firing at the abductors' vehicle while endangering the captive's life.

However, not all commanders agree with the protocol. Some claim that human life must be treasured and therefore ignore the subject in briefings, leaving their soldiers to exercise their own judgment.

Gantz will be forced to form a clear and unified policy next week which will no doubt prompt a public discussion. Meanwhile IDF officials stressed that the protocol will not be changed but procedures will be revisited to prevent any misunderstandings.

Maybe it's time that we worry more about shooting to kill the terrorists before they can kill or abduct us. How about teaching some Torah to the IDF!

[Rubystars]

If the Israeli government would not make such stupid deals to get them back then maybe such drastic preventative measures wouldn't be as necessary. I do think that they should be more effective at getting rid of/killing Arab enemies so this is not as much of a problem in the first place.

[Lisa]

I haven't watched the video, but from what you wrote, Muman, it sounds disgusting. 

First off, soldiers should be able to kill Arab terrorists with impunity, which what they're for.  Forget this bull s--t about not harming the so-called civilians.  Also, if a soldier is taken hostage, Israel needs to raze that mosque on the Temple mount, along with Medina, and then start killing the terrorists in their jails. 

Now some of you might be thinking that the "Israeli" Arabs would then go crazy.  To that I say, make it a law for every Israeli Jew to be armed at all times, kind of like Switzerland. 

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Lol israeli govt is truly insane.  Some of the most evil twisted people in the world.

[Tag-MehirTzedek]

This is the Chiloni "Moral code of conduct". Shoot your own soldiers, while sparring the terrorist enemies! 
 What a pathetic country and society. And yett they argue that swapping 1,000+ murderers for 1 soldier is the thing they must do for their soldiers. Pathetic and yett another plan by the self-hating kapo lemmings.

[syyuge]

I haven't watched the video, but from what you wrote, Muman, it sounds disgusting. 

First off, soldiers should be able to kill Arab terrorists with impunity, which what they're for.  Forget this bull s--t about not harming the so-called civilians.  Also, if a soldier is taken hostage, Israel needs to raze that mosque on the Temple mount, along with Medina, and then start killing the terrorists in their jails. 

Now some of you might be thinking that the "Israeli" Arabs would then go crazy.  To that I say, make it a law for every Israeli Jew to be armed at all times, kind of like Switzerland. 

[edu]

An article in Hebrew at http://www.debka.co.il/article/21407/ claims that Israel knew for the past 5 years, where Gilad Shalit was being held, but according to the article they couldn't come up with a plan to rescue Gilad, before the abductors would shoot to kill.

So it seems that in the case of Shalit the 'Hannibal Protocol' was not followed.
Or maybe, there's a special exception to the 'Hannibal Protocol' for those who are well connected with the left?

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

An article in Hebrew at http://www.debka.co.il/article/21407/ claims that Israel knew for the past 5 years, where Gilad Shalit was being held, but according to the article they couldn't come up with a plan to rescue Gilad, before the abductors would shoot to kill.

So it seems that in the case of Shalit the 'Hannibal Protocol' was not followed.
Or maybe, there's a special exception to the 'Hannibal Protocol' for those who are well connected with the left?

1.  Debka is a propaganda wing of the Israeli govt.  They are there to justify what the regime does. They have no credibility and no one takes them seriously.  They have never even once given a source to anything they've claimed and rarely if ever are their "rumors" correct.


2.  Supposedly this protocol to shoot the soldier as he is being kidnapped, was developed in response to the shalit debacle.

[syyuge]

Another option shall be that under the threat of getting captured, the soldiers shall fight against the muslamics till the end of one or other. BTW, I do not know the religious implications of this.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

The fact that this is even on the table shows the depths of depravity to which the Jewish state has sunk. Do average Israelis really support this insanity? Would they really rather murder their own soldiers than punish the Arab enemy?

Are they really that brainwashed?

Has the whole world gone mad?

[Manch]

I haven't watched the video, but from what you wrote, Muman, it sounds disgusting. 

First off, soldiers should be able to kill Arab terrorists with impunity, which what they're for.  Forget this bull s--t about not harming the so-called civilians.  Also, if a soldier is taken hostage, Israel needs to raze that mosque on the Temple mount, along with Medina, and then start killing the terrorists in their jails. 

Now some of you might be thinking that the "Israeli" Arabs would then go crazy.  To that I say, make it a law for every Israeli Jew to be armed at all times, kind of like Switzerland. 

Sounds like a very intelligent action plan to me!