In a Zoom conversation with Rabbi YY Jacobson, United Hatzolah founder Eli Beer shared a fascinating conversation he had with Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l regarding his ethical obligation to treat or not to treat a terrorist. Beer first stressed that during the current hostilities, his group has not provided medical treatment to a single terrorist, nor have they transported one to a hospital. He then recalled a question he posed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l. The question was: in a hypothetical scenario where a terrorist stabbed a Jew and was then shot, and the terrorist is in a more serious condition than the Jew, who should he treat first? Emergency response ethics call for a more seriously injured individual to be treated ahead of a less seriously injured one, but what do you in a case where one of the injured is a terrorist? Rav Chaim’s response was nothing short of incredible. “You have a chiyuv to go first to the terrorist, shoot him in the head, and then treat the Jew,” Beer recalled Rav Chaim as saying. “He has a din of a rodef,” he quoted Rav Chaim as saying – even if the terrorist is no longer able to hurt anyone. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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