Would God Want Israel To Attack Iran?

In Our Time, The Only War Jewish Law Really Permits Is Defensive War. So What Does That Say About Iran?  

By By Rabbi Michael Knopf 
Jewish World Blogger 
Published 11:07 04.03.12 
Latest update 11:07 04.03.12 
Courtesy Of "Haaretz Newspaper"

Israeli officials have recently ramped up their arguments for striking Iranian nuclear facilities. So far, there has been silence among Jewish religious thinkers about whether attacking Iran would be consonant with Jewish values.

So what would Judaism say about such a military action? Would God want us to attack Iran?

The Jewish tradition does not speak with one voice on the ethics of war, and distilling this complex issue in this forum risks oversimplification. Still, I understand the tradition to point in a particular direction. Here’s why:

In our time, the only war Jewish law permits is defensive war. True, Jewish law theoretically allows Jews to wage an “optional war” to conquer territory or to demonstrate military prowess. But since we no longer have a Sanhedrin (an ancient rabbinic court) or Urim V’tummim (priestly oracles), these wars are currently forbidden, even if they might eventually help protect Jewish lives.

Maimonides defines a defensive war as one waged “to assist Israel from an enemy that has come upon them” (Laws of Kings 5:1). The plain meaning of this ruling is that the only permissible war (in fact, it is called an “obligatory war”) is one to repel an attack and to defend lives that are in danger. Moreover, in order to qualify as a defensive war, the enemy must initiate the aggression.

Additionally, the Talmud implies one must be certain that the enemy intends to kill and that the murderous act is imminent. The Talmud does not say, “If you think someone is coming to kill you…” or “If someone eventually plans to kill you.” Instead, it places the lethal drive in the present. The hostile is coming to get you, knife in hand, right now. You know he’s coming for you. You know his plan is to kill. Only when that standard is met may you “rise up early to kill him.”

These nuances present challenges for those who endorse attacking Iran. First, can the violence be controlled? Is it possible that innocent people will die? Given the strategic difficulties presented by striking Iran, the challenges of dropping one-ton bombs so surgically as to take out only nuclear targets without killing innocents, and the possibility of an assault triggering a wider conflict, this first question ought to give us serious pause. The medicine cannot be worse than the disease.

Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, does Iran meet the Talmud’s standard for preemptive killing? Iran is clearly developing nuclear technology, but do we know Iran is planning to build a weapon? No, we do not. And even if we knew that Iran plans to build a nuke, do we know it plans to use it? No. And even if we knew that Iran planned a nuclear attack, do we know its intention is to kill Jews or destroy Israel? No. And even if we knew that Iran planned to attack Israel, do we know that it is imminent? No; most experts believe Iran is still years away from building a weapon. The Talmud implies that we may not “rise up early to kill first” unless those standards are met.

With the American war in Iraq still fresh in our collective memory, Judaism’s standards for just wars become especially poignant. A decade ago, Bush Administration officials began calling for military action against Saddam Hussein. They contended that Hussein had secret weapons stockpiles, was producing weapons of mass destruction, and was supplying weapons to terrorists. Given Hussein’s belligerent attitude toward the West, his defiance of the international community, and his track record of brutality at home and abroad, these pieces of evidence were, at the time, offered to prove a clear and imminent threat to the U.S.

So the U.S. invaded, igniting a nearly ten-year war that reportedly resulted in more than 150,000 deaths. Only amid the rubble and corpses did we discover that most, if not all, of the arguments in favor of the war were false. We let fears, not facts, govern our decisions. Our goal was to save innocent lives; we took many, instead.

The Talmud teaches that, in 586 BCE, Judea was destroyed not because its defenses were too weak, but because the Jews were indifferent about shedding blood (Shabbat 33a). Let us pray that history does not repeat itself.

Michael Knopf is the Assistant Rabbi of Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, and a recent graduate of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles.