The IDF: Still the Most Moral Army in the world

Hilary Faverman's article in the Times of Israel asks the question "Isn't all fair in love and war"?
To the IDF, apparently not.

After attending a lecture on Israeli military ethics by Colonel Bentzi Gruber, she writes:

He was speaking to a group of 50 IDF officers – young, impressionable 23 year olds in training for battle, who eyed me, my American accent and my Mac suspiciously. Quietly authoritative and approachable, Bentzi made it immediately clear that he was not dispensing his opinion. This was direction that came from the Chiefs of Staff, and his role was to disseminate the directive, as he has done for countless officers before, in hope that the weight, importance and severity of the message infiltrates.

Bentzi spoke about humanity. About the value of life. Not just Israeli lives. Not just soldiers’ lives.

Civilian lives.

Palestinian lives.

Lives of those we often categorize as “collateral damage”.

And what battle soldiers need to do, are required to do, to prevent any loss of life. This moral code – these ethics we live by as an army, said Bentzi – is the only way we can preserve our own humanity, and that needs to be our goal. Whenever there is a drop of doubt about whether or not to use force, he insisted, there is no doubt. The answer is no.

Initially, the eyes of the soldiers narrowed incredulously, as did mine. We gazed at Bentzi with cocked brows, wanting to wave him away – to explain to this bloody-do-gooder that this is war. We need to do whatever we can to be triumphant.

Clearly not Bentzi’s inaugural address of this sort, he graciously tipped his hat to the air of skepticism in the room. Bentzi went on to walk us through the tactical rules of engagement; when a soldier can use force and when he must refrain. He spoke elegantly about the meaning of collateral damage, assigning tangible value to the lives of those standing next to a terrorist. He outlined for us that while there are indeed 35,000 terrorists with whom we are at war, there are also 1.8 million Palestinian civilians with whom we are not at war.

Deftly navigating between authority and compassion, Bentzi gave us a litany of real-world, battle based examples. A soldier has 8 seconds, Bentzi testified, to make a life-changing decision. These 8 seconds will secure or extinguish not only the future of the man in his rifle sights, but his own future as well. His future of humanity, of sensitivity and empathy – as a man, as a father, a son, a human with the ability to recognize and value other human life.

When a terrorist grabs a child and holds him to the chest as a shield, the Israeli sniper is not to fire. The writhing, frightened child he holds has value. He selects a child because he knows the IDF’s code of ethics better than most of the world does. He knows we won’t be shot. He’s right.

Bentzi asserts that while the greater world will never recognize the IDF’s code of ethics, we don’t practice it for their benefit, so world opinion is not of our concern. Yes, our priorities include keeping our nation safe – we are trained as soldiers and we must protect Israel. But we cannot demote ourselves to savagery, as once we compartmentalize human life into “valuable” and “insignificant” we cease to be a nation worth protecting.

Read the entire article  here

 

For more information on the The Ethical Code of the Israel Defense Forces, see  here