According to current reports about the most recent "friendly fire" event, 3 Israeli captives (2 Jews & 1 Arab) seeking rescue slipped out of a building toward Israeli soldiers.
The 3 young men removed their shirts to prove they carried no weapons, waved a white flag, and repeatedly called out "Help!" in Hebrew.
Yet the soldiers shot them anyway.
What happened?
A Tragic Lack of Communication
In other words, nothing in the hostages' attempt to at communication indicated their true status.
Conversely, Jews who managed to evade capture and slaughter in the aftermath of the Horrific Invasion called out "Shema Yisrael" and other verses to identify themselves to Israeli soldiers.
Likewise, Israeli soldiers called out "Shema Yisrael" and other verses to prove themselves Jews to their fellow Jews in hiding.
(During the Slaughter, terrorists called out to Jews in Hebrew, "It's okay to come out — we're the IDF!" The Jews who believed them and came out were immediately shot — or worse. So people needed actual proof of Jewishness.)
From both sides, Jews called out "Shema Yisrael," then waited to hear the continuation of the verse from the other side before proceeding.
This knowledge of Shema Yisrael and other verses saved lives.
So why didn't that happen here?
"Do You Know What Kfar Aza Is?"
Of course I'd heard of Kfar Aza and even posted on Batia Holin's experience here:
batias-burst-bubble-lets-prove-to-people-that-there-are-people-in-israel-and-gaza-who-love-each-other.html
But I knew my husband meant whether I knew of the culture of Kfar Aza. So I said no.
He continued, "Kfar Aza is about as Leftist and secular as you can get. They have nothing there. No Shabbat, absolutely nothing."
In other words, the two young Jewish men lacked the background to even think of communicating via Jewish prayers or Torah verses.
A Minimum of Torah Literacy – It Saves Lives
This dream motivated Rav Ovadia to open up religious schools for not-necessarily-religious Jewish children around the country.
He and his activists took it upon themselves to teach spiritually neglected Jewish children Shema Yisrael.
At that time, no one guessed how life-saving this knowledge would become.
And even though those two words and the continuation of the verse ("Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad — Hear O Israel, Hashem is our Lord, Hashem is One") can be easily learned by terrorists seeking to impersonate Jews, the continuing paragraph is not as well-known (outside of the religious Jewish world) or as easy to recite for non-Hebrew speakers.
Had the hostages merely said the entire verse of Shema Yisrael, that would've given the soldiers pause for thought.
Had they continued with the paragraph all religious Jews can recite without even thinking ("V'ahavata et Hashem Elokecha"), that would've proved beyond a doubt their identity — saved their lives.
It's a Tragedy for the Soldiers Too
And it's an awful, awful thing to live with.
It's true that the military holds regulations in place to deal with these situations, but when you have an exhausted, battle-weary troop who senses danger and death at every step — and who already suffered ambushes by Gazan terrorists pretending to be Israeli hostages — it's hard to risk checking them out further.
Remember, in addition to their eyes, the soldiers need to use their ears to listen out for any life-threatening movement.
Furthermore, terrorists attached Hebrew-speaking and crying dolls to loudspeakers to fool soldiers into coming to rescue child hostages, then murder the soldiers.
They stuffed explosives into children's clothes, dolls, and knapsacks to murder Jewish soldiers.
(Baruch Hashem, these evil tricks did not work.)
So sure, the soldiers could've called out to the trio "Shema Yisrael! Say 'Shema Yisrael!'" — just as soldiers did when looking for fellow Jews in the aftermath of the Slaughter.
But their mission was to liquidate terrorists in hiding. The hostages came by surprise.
And how could the soldiers know an RPG or AK-47 or grenade wouldn't be fired on them at that moment of distraction, if the soldiers would start calling out to them?
And anyway, these two younger members of Kfar Aza wouldn't necessarily know the continuation of the verse. Maybe yes, maybe no. (The Arab hostage for sure wouldn't know.) So if the soldiers had called out to them "Shema Yisrael! Say Shema Yisrael!", I don't know if it would've helped in this specific situation.
It's a terrible, terrible tragedy all around.
This post already listed the many harmful effects from the way this war is being conducted: the-price-is-already-too-high-to-pay-and-its-only-rising.html
Even Though It's Not His Fault...
It's often presented as a "Get Out of Gehinnom Free!" card.
But Rav Avigdor Miller and other great Torah Sages indicate that's not so simple.
Quoting the words of Rav Chaim Brisker, Rav Miller stated:
“...nebach an apikores iz oich an apikores.”
Anybody who is a disbeliever, even though it’s not his fault, nebuch, means it’s a pity on him...
https://torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-the-poor-apikores/
Tape #528
But for whatever it's worth, in my eyes, it applies to this situation too.
It's not their fault and we don't blame them.
But nonetheless, they ended up in a heart-crushing mistake because when their life was on the line, they honestly did not know what to say to their fellow Jews to save their own lives.
And the soldiers (whom, for the reasons stated previously, I cannot blame) will need to struggle with this outcome for the rest of their lives.
And it's not their fault either.