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- Title
Shayetet-13, the Kishon River and Climate Change - Who is Responsible for Environmental Hazards?
- Authors
Lerner, Shimon
- Abstract
How do we assess and quantify statistical hazards? Can we prove the existence of a causal link in cases where the evidence is based only on statistical measurements? Most environmental hazards, being statistical in nature, fall into this category. This makes it difficult to pin the responsibility for dealing with them on any single entity, ultimately leaving everyone in a dangerous situation. The tragic story of the divers from the IDF's elite Navy SEALS unit, provides a poignant and illuminating illustration. Was the unusually high occurrence of cancer among veteran divers related to their training in the polluted Kishon River? Shaul Mofaz (Defense Minister at the time) famously decided to compensate the families of the divers, despite the findings of a special commission stating there wasn't enough statistical evidence in support of the claim. This story emphasizes the necessity of finding a way to deal with these issues. Who must take responsibility for such kinds of statistical hazards? What does halakhah have to say on such matters? On the one hand, there is no greater example of pikuah nefesh (lives at stake). On the other, the lack of direct causality complicates matters. It is therefore, not enough to merely stress the obligation of protecting the environment. A framework must be developed which places clear and actionable responsibility on well-defined parties. I shall propose a possible outline of such a halakhic framework. This framework shall then be applied to the case of the Shayetet as well as the case of CO2 emissions into the environment.
- Publication
B'Or Ha'Torah, 2019, Vol 26, p58
- ISSN
0333-6298
- Publication type
Academic Journal