Let's examine one throwaway line in the article, a phrase considered so self-evident as to not need a link: I show the context and place the line in bold.
A central teaching of Christianity arising from Genesis, a text it shares with its Jewish neighbors, maintains that every person, regardless of country of origin, is made in the image of God and deserving of respect. We are not alone in this belief. Other religious and secular traditions have articulated a similar idea. This provides an opportunity for cooperation. The belief in the inestimable worth of human beings can be a moral anchor in the turbulent seas of conflicting concerns.There is no more crucial time to press this basic truth than in times of war, when the humanity of one’s opponents gets tossed to the side. Contending for the dignity of Palestinian and Israeli civilians is a theological act when the goals of victory and of the protection of the innocent struggle with each other for supremacy. Giving equal value to human beings on both sides of the conflict does not entail making moral equivalences between Israel and Hamas. It requires considering the lives of noncombatants in Israel and Gaza as equally sacred.
I have no reason to doubt that this is an accurate representation of Christian ethics, that all human life is equally precious..
But do all armies really ignore the humanity of their opponents?
The IDF most emphatically does not. And, I would argue, the IDF Code of Ethics is more ethical than the ethics described by this pastor.
The IDF "Ruach Tzahal" lists three fundamental values. Two of them are:
1. The purpose of the IDF is to protect the existence of the state of Israel, its independence, and the security of its citizens and residents.3. The IDF and its soldiers are obligated to preserve human dignity. All humans are to be valued, regardless of race, creed, nationality, gender, status or role
Among the ten additional values that come from the fundamental values are:
(1) Human LifeThe IDF serviceman will, above all, preserve human life, in the recognition of its supreme value and will place himself or others at risk solely to the extent required to carry out his mission.The sanctity of life in the eyes of the IDF servicemen will find expression in all of their actions, in deliberate and meticulous planning, in safe and intelligent training and in proper execution of their mission. In evaluating the risk to self and others, they will use the appropriate standards and will exercise constant care to limit injury to life to the extent required to accomplish the mission.(2) Purity of ArmsThe IDF serviceman will use force of arms only for the purpose of subduing the enemy to the necessary extent and will limit his use of force so as to prevent unnecessary harm to human life and limb, dignity and property.The IDF servicemen's purity of arms is their self-control in use of armed force. They will use their arms only for the purpose of achieving their mission, without inflicting unnecessary injury to human life or limb; dignity or property, of both soldiers and civilians, with special consideration for the defenseless, whether in wartime, or during routine security operations, or in the absence of combat, or times of peace.
All human life is sacred. But everyone prioritizes the value of some lives over others: themselves, their families, their tribe, and - for a soldier - their comrades, their nation and their own citizens above all.
Claiming that all human life is of equal value might be a nice slogan but no one adheres to that standard in reality. And if someone wants to live by that ethical standard, they are free to abandon their families to save the lives of the most vulnerable people in the world, since that is what such a standard would not just allow but seemingly demand.
But they do not have the right to insist that others live to their own impossible, impractical and ultimately immoral standards.
The IDF Code of Ethics is supremely ethical. It does not "toss the humanity" of Palestinians to the side, no matter what the media is claiming. But soldiers prioritize defense of their own comrades and people, and in this war that means ensuring that Hamas cannot fulfill its own "ethical" standard of genocide against Jews.
The ethical imperative to destroy Hamas before they could mount another October 7 is far higher than letting them survive to attack again. Which means that the civilians whom Hamas uses as human shields are killed not because their lives are worthless, but because the IDF ascribes supreme value on its own citizens. They die because Hamas uses them as their main line of defense, and their lives are Hamas' responsibility.
Knowing that the media will blame Israel for the deaths of those Hamas cynically uses is Hamas' secondary line of defense. In a sense, articles like this that implicitly describe the IDF as unfeeling monsters are doing Hamas' bidding as well, and can ultimately help Hamas accomplish its own genocidal goals.
How ethical!
The IDF indeed faces difficult ethical issues. Experts who have studied the IDF methods all come to the same conclusion - it places very high value on civilians on the enemy side, higher than most or all armies in history. Hamas knows this and has taken advantage of this morality in order to accomplish its own goals of self-preservation and murdering Jews.
If you need proof, read the story of how Gaza terror groups recruited a Gaza burn patient to infiltrate into Israel and attempt to blow herself up at a hospital in 2005.
It is ironic that Israel is considered guilty for the exact opposite of reality.
Israel has given far more thought to these very issues than a New York Times columnist ever will. It is an insult to all Israelis to be lectured about morality by those whose idea of morality would set the stage for the truly evil to win. And any moral code that allows a truly evil side to keep trying to wipe out all Jews until they get it right is not a moral code at all.
