The question posed by Rabbi Charles Feinberg in his Jewish Week Opinion piece, “Drone Warfare: Who Shall Live And Who Shall Die?,” Jan. 23, is indeed an essential question posed in our Rosh HaShanah liturgy that brings tears to my eyes. I think often of the young and old, healthy and infirm, that are maimed and brutally massacred by terror.
With due respect to Rabbi Feinberg, the contents of his opinion article are somewhat naive. No doubt that that matters of life and death are in God’s hands — God chooses who will live and who will die. But as responsible Jews and civilized human beings, we cannot let evil dictate the ways of the world. We are not dealing with soldier-on-soldier combat. We are talking about civilized peoples vs. evil of the worst kind [perpetrated by various terrorist groups]. We are dealing with civilized countries like Israel and the U.S. eradicating evil.
I am not a drone expert, and I assume the rabbi is not either, but based on the facts drones cause less harm to our soldiers. If we did not have the drone technology, the other choice would be putting “boots on the ground” in those areas that drones are striking. As is abundantly evident, the harm to our men and women in uniform would be far greater.
Those who don’t want to get killed by precise drone attacks (certainly a more precise strike than their aimless terror attacks), should not travel, hang out, eat dinner, pray or associate with terrorists. Frankly they should clear the evil that lurks within their towns. It would improve their lives exponentially.
Call it revenge, call it prevention — I salute the IDF, the U.S. Armed Forces and all civilized countries who use drones and other technologies to erase the presence of [terrorists]. It is vital that we take this war on terror seriously and aggressively.
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