124 Selected Responsa
violence and murder against Israel and its people whether we give in to their demands or not. He may be right; still, much political and strategic thinking disputes him, holding that surrender to the demands of hostage-takers does encourage future acts of violence.
Fourth, R. Yosef does not consider the fact that Israel is a sovereign nation in a state of war with its neighbors. Since its enemies have shown themselves willing to pursue this war against its civilian population, it is not unreasonable for Israel to regard all its citizens as soldiers in the conflict. If soldiers are called upon to risk their lives in defense of the nation, Israel 's civilian hostages may be said to share that duty. R. Yosef's ruling is, to be sure, 2 compassionate one; he would place the safe return of hostages in the first rank of Israeli security priorities. In so doing, however, he would tie the hands of Israel 's civilian and military leaders who must somehow, in painful dilemmas such as these, strike an acceptable balance between the lives of the hostages and the welfare of an entire nation.
This balance, we think, can be established solely on a case-bycase basis. In any hostage situation, the government must determine whether and to what extent payment of the ransom demanded by the kidnappers would threaten the safety of the rest of the population. In some situations the government will decide that to pay the ransom is the lesser of two evils, that to obtain the freedom of its captives justifies whatever danger the public may face at some later date." In others, it will conclude that the price is too high. In each case, the decision must reflect, on the strength of careful consultation with military, diplomatic, and political experts, the best available judgement as to the likely results of either course of action.’
This is no guarantee that mistakes will not be made; experts, like the rest of us, can be wrong. It is, however, the surest means by which the government of Israel (and indeed, any government of communal authority) can hope to discharge its ethical responsibilities to its people against the backdrop of one of the harshest realities© our time.