On 30 November, two armed terrorists attacked civilians at a bus stop in Jerusalem killing three people and injuring five. An Israeli citizen intervened to stop the terrorists and was killed … by off duty IDF soldiers. While this is under investigation, it raises uncomfortable questions about how readily I accepted what I saw as justified.
When I first saw the video, I saw a figure being shot at by off-duty soldiers responding to the attacks. I saw the figure fall to the ground, seem to raise his hands, and was then shot again.
We’re accustomed to terrorists being “neutralised” (usually a euphemism for being shot dead by security services and when this happens, it’s often a relief because those terrorists won’t live to kill or injure more Israelis elsewhere.
In this case, I watched the figure being shot again after seeming to surrender (my initial perception). Seeing that felt wrong, before I thought that at least this terrorist won’t be around to try kill others. Then I found out that this individual was an Israeli citizen, Yuval Castleman, who intervened to help stop the actual terrorists, and who was instead seemingly mistaken as an attacker by the off duty soldiers on the scene.
“The findings of the investigation so far indicate that during the attack, one of the IDF soldiers identified and mistakenly suspected the late Yuval — who acted bravely and courageously to neutralize the terrorists — as a third terrorist,” police said. “The same soldier also fired at him which led to his serious injury and tragic death.”
Four killed, 5 injured in Hamas-claimed terror shooting at Jerusalem bus stop | The Times of Israel
When I learned that this person was not a terrorist, but rather a heroic civilian who crossed lanes of traffic to stop a devastating attack, I found myself quite rightly questioning my acceptance of what I saw in that video as a “just” action by our soldiers.
This introspection is more about my perceptions and what I consider to be acceptable, and not a commentary on whether what the soldiers did was correct. That said, I understand that our soldiers’ rules of engagement require a degree of verification before firing in circumstances like this and I am sure the military investigation will shed more light on Yuval’s tragic death.
“Yuval noticed a terrorist attack from the other side of the road while driving to his job at the government complex, and stopped his car to stop the terrorists,” Channel 13 quoted his family as saying on Friday. “He had previously served in the security forces and was always a hero and the first to jump in and save lives, which he did this time as well.”
Family says Yuval Castleman, killed after taking out terrorists, was ‘executed’ | The Times of Israel
On the one hand, terrorism can’t be tolerated, and even though I don’t support the death penalty1 I do feel that there are instances where heavily armed terrorists may need to be “neutralised”.
If they aren’t stopped, they will head down the road to the next town and take more lives, possibly mine, my family’s, friends, neighbours.
We’ve seen this happen time and time again.
In this case, why was I so quick to accept Yuval’s shooting as an unpleasant, yet necessary neutralisation of another armed “terrorist”? I felt uncomfortable when I saw the video, so why did I still justify it to myself when I watched it?
The seemingly constant threat of terrorist attacks in our cities and the current war in response to the barbaric attacks of the 7th of October have traumatised me, I suspect. The challenge is not losing my humanity in the process, though.
- This position that goes back to my law school days when the Constitutional Court ruled in the case of “S v Makwanyane and Another”, on June 6, 1995, that the death penalty unconstitutional. The court found that capital punishment violated the right to life and the right to dignity, as guaranteed in the South African Constitution. This decision marked a significant moment in South African legal history, firmly establishing the abolition of the death penalty in the country’s legal system. ↩︎
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What do you think?