Opinion
To pardon the rebellious son?
Rabbi Donniel Hartman
Published: 11.01.17, 16:36
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10 Talkbacks for this article
1. talmudic logic, the criminal (Elor) is now the victim.
James   (01.11.17)
i.e. " I'll never forgive the Palestinians for making us bomb their schools, mosques, hospital, and playgrounds"
2. good column, well thought out
Rafi ,   US   (01.11.17)
3. This 'Rabbi's book titles reflect his distorted world view
Avi Israeli ,   Tel-Aviv   (01.11.17)
His books:
1. 'Putting God Second: How to Save Religion from Itself';
2. 'The boundaries of Judaism'
'The Shalom Hartman Institute' (SHI) in Jerusalem is a 3rd generation family business receiving millions of dollars in funding annually from US ultra-liberal 'Jewish Pluralism' groups who don't always consider Israel's security concerns.
For example, ALFREDO BORODOWSKI, Head of the N.American branch of the institute earned $195,479 in compensation according to the IRS Form-990 - back in 2009. Ronald Sedley received nearly $200,000 in compensation that same year. Most suspicious is the section 'Grants and other assistance to governments, organizations , and individuals outside the U.S.
See Part IV, lines 15 and 16': $3,842,000.
So, when you see an 'Op-Ed' like this going against the group-thinking of more than 70% of most Jewish Israelis, follow the money and put on your independent thinking cap.
4. He did the wrong thing, but Pardon him!!
David ,   Haifa   (01.11.17)
"For we will surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from him. 2Samuel 14:14

Government of Israel, it is morally inequivilent to punish him with the rest of the brutal murderers.

The video of the Jerusalem truck attack doesn't lie, our soldiers were scattering in seven different directions.
5. The right wing will soon reap what it sows
Mark Jeffery Koch ,   Mount Laurel, NJ USA   (01.11.17)
Israel was once considered a light unto nations but the far right wing are determined to make Israel a pariah among nations. In a democracy a soldier is not the judge, the jury, and executioner.

Let the Trump administration allow Israel to keep expanding settlements and taking more Palestinian land. Let the Trump administration move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Pardon the soldier. Soon, the BDS movement, which until now has consisted of a bunch of left wing anti semites, will grow to include hundreds of millions of people around the world.

It's time the right wing in Israel reaps what it sows. It is bringing Israel to the abyss and soon Israel will lose most of the people in America and then, hopefully before that happens and its too late to prevent a conflagration, Israeli's will take control of their destiny and not allow the extremists to destroy a wonderful country.
6. RABBI HARTMAN
STIGMUND FREUD ,   SAFED PSYCHOLOGY   (01.11.17)
It is unhealthy for a man to think too much and the good Rabbi is thinking too much ,I am sorry to say. It is facile and cgeap to sit far away from danger and judge. Poor Sgt. Azaria did not enjoy the luxury of time to intellectualise and cogitate about the wrongs and rights .He had little choice but to remove a risk. In other words .you are not in that same dangerous situation so do not be so quick to judge ,which makes you come across as very arrogant.
7. PLEASE GROW UP
CAPTAIN REALITY ,   SAFED HONESTY   (01.11.17)
This is a brutal and vicious war ,a battle for mere survival Kill or be brutally killed .Not a sunday mothers meeting . GET REAL.
8. MORALS SHMORALS.
CAPTAIN REALITY ,   SAFED HONESTY   (01.11.17)
The ONLY moral act for a soldier is for him to prevent himself being killed ,to fight to survive. This is also the Torah way Who is this arrogant Rabbi to dare lecture israelis on morality?
9. AZARIA DESERVES A MEDAL
GENERAL NUISANCE ,   SAFED OBVIOUS   (01.11.17)
Not nonsense lectures about morality.
10. we must not become victims of our moral compass
C   (01.11.17)
on the one hand, azaria exercised bad judgment when he shot a terrorist
who already seemed unarmed.
on the other hand, we cannot expect members of tzahal to apply the
laws of war to terrorists who are illegal combatants.

there should be no confusions between enemy civilians and islamic
terrorists who do not benefit from the provisions of the geneva
conventions.
it must be pointed out that western armies, their leaders and
commanders often execute terrorists far from the homeland.
they do so because the terrorists are carrying out an ongoing
war of terror against western civilian populations.
these terrorists are not members of legally constituted armies
of state actors.
the Islamic terrorists specifically aim to destroy the jewish
state of israel and the western way of life.
for decades, islamic terrorists have been carrying out attacks
against civilian targets world wide. these terrorist do not
respect the laws of war. they openly state that they only accept
sharia law. for decades, the west has appeased these
terrorists and their state sponsors.
this appeasement policy has emboldened islamic states,
their proxies, and the islamic terrorists.
israel cannot have rules of engagement that are so restrictive
that the terrorists take advantage of them.
our moral compass has not resulted in a show of respect from
western nations.
yes, we must have a moral compass because the torah so
commands us. but the torah also commands us to kill
the enemy before he kills us.
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