As a child, I used to enjoy playing Chinese Whispers (Broken Telephone in American). At a birthday party, one kid would whisper “Happy Birthday Leo” into the next kid’s ear and he would whisper to the person next to him and, three minutes later, by the time it came round a circle of 20 kids, it would be reported as “Have a thirsty meal.”
Sadly, our current (media) war against Hamas is suffering from a bout of Chinese Whispers that has taken place over two millennia.
The sixth commandment is Lo Tirtzach which means “Do not murder”. In the original Greek translation, it was translated to Ou phoneúseis, a word that ambiguously translates to “kill” or “murder”. This was translated into English, by most Christian Bible scholars, to read “Thou Shall Not Kill.”
Do not murder vs Do not kill: The biblical misunderstanding and Israel's war in Gaza
The difference between “Do not murder” and “Do not kill” is immense and at the core of the disagreement between the pro-ceasefire and anti-ceasefire camps today. In a recent radio discussion on LBC (the main UK talkback radio station) a Jewish caller argued that Gazan civilians killed during attacks against terrorists are not considered murdered as there was no intention to kill them. The anchor argued that this was morally wrong since, by intentionally bombing Gaza, the Israelis did have the intention to kill civilians. The conversation went backwards and forwards and there was no resolution.
Article 51 of the United Nations Charter reads, “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations.” This is generally understood to be the right to defend one’s nation even through the killing of civilians, if that is the only way to eliminate the enemy forces.
UNDER JEWISH law, anyone who threatens your ability to live is considered a fair target for killing. And this is not considered murder. For example, if a mother is about to give birth and the doctors consider that the as-yet-unborn baby would kill her in childbirth, then Jewish law would approve the “killing” of the fetus.
Interestingly, (according to www.catholic.com) this would be true for Catholics, the strictest Christians, as well. In Jewish law, it would be moral to kill someone who is trying to kill you, and by Catholic law, this is true as well. So despite the mistranslation, it appears that the strictest Christians understand that “Thou shall not kill” actually means “Thou shall not murder.”
Sadly this is not the case for many less morally educated Westerners. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) website claims, in its ignorance, that “Thou shall not kill” applies to animals as well.
American journalist Nicholas Kristof wrote in The New York Times (Oct. 21, 2023), “We must not kill Gazan children to try to protect Israeli children.” And the LBC interviewer, James O’Brien (Oct. 31, 2023), failed to understand the difference between Hamas “murdering” Israeli children and Israeli forces “killing” Gazan children in the process of eliminating terrorists. A number of Jihadi websites also criticize Israel for its contravention of “Thou Shall not Kill”.
A secular approach to morality is able to twist the meaning of moral laws to whatever it wishes to prove. Perhaps this debate illustrates the need for a globally accepted moral text with associated case laws. If so, the Torah (the best-selling moral text, globally) and the Talmud (the most detailed analysis of the Torah’s case laws) would appear to be strong candidates for this role.
The world is demanding moral clarity – maybe now is the time to shine a new light on old texts. Until the world shares a common moral language, we will never agree. May we stop the murders, even if, sadly, innocent people are killed in the process, and bring moral clarity to the world.
The writer’s wife, Lucy, and two daughters, Maia and Rina, were brutally massacred by Hamas terrorists as they traveled to a family holiday in Tiberias during Passover 2023. He is an educator and committed to shalom, which is the topic of his book Transforming the World - the Jewish impact on Modernity, available on Amazon.