By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

The story reads like a geopolitical thriller. An American F-15 is shot down over Iran. One pilot is recovered. A second crew member is unaccounted for. And then — before official American sources have confirmed anything — an Israeli journalist, Amit Segal of Channel 12, publishes the information on his Telegram channel.

President Trump was furious. “National security: Give it up or go to jail,” he declared at a White House briefing, warning that whoever leaked the information about a second missing airman may have alerted Iranian forces — placing the missing serviceman’s life in danger.

Mr. Segal has since confirmed that he was among the first to report the story, though he later walked back his claim to have been definitively first. Either way, he has been unequivocal: he will not reveal his sources.

From an American legal perspective, whether the United States can prosecute an Israeli journalist is an open and contested question. Newsweek has already noted the jurisdictional difficulties inherent in any such prosecution.

But from a Torah perspective, there is a very different and deeply important question: Did Amit Segal’s reporting violate halachah? And specifically — did he violate the eight mitzvos that the Rambam enumerates in connection with the obligation of pidyon shvuyim, the redemption of captives?

That is the question we explore here.

The Missing Airman: The Halachic Stakes

The Torah’s concern for captives — shvuyim — is extraordinary in its scope. The Rambam writes in Hilchos Matnas Aniyim (8:10) that pidyon shvuyim is a mitzvah rabbah, a great mitzvah, surpassing virtually all other forms of tzedakah and communal obligation. The captive who languishes without being redeemed, writes the Rambam, transgresses multiple negative commandments — and those who could have redeemed him and did not, bear responsibility for every one of those transgressions.

But what of one who, through his own actions — even indirectly — places a person in captivity, or worsens the conditions of one already in danger of captivity?  In this case the journalists actions endangered two nation’s armies – fighting to remove a dangerous terrorist state endangering the world.

The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 252) codifies the obligation of pidyon shvuyim in great detail. The Beis Yosef and Taz both emphasize that any action that increases the danger to a captive, or that informs captors of information that could be used against a prisoner, is itself a severe violation of multiple Torah prohibitions.

The framework of pidyon shvuyim is instructive here. So let’s review it.

The Eight Mitzvos of Pidyon Shvuyim

The Rambam in Hilchos Matnas Aniyim (8:10) famously enumerates eight mitzvos that are fulfilled through pidyon shvuyim — and conversely, eight mitzvos that one violates by failing to redeem a captive, or by actively contributing to the danger a captive faces. Let us examine each one, and its application to the Segal situation.

1. Lo Sikpatz Es Yadecha — Do Not Harden Your Hand (Devarim 15:7)

The Torah commands, “Do not harden your heart and do not close your hand to your impoverished brother.” The Rambam explains that this prohibition extends to any situation where one refuses to act when a fellow Jew’s life or freedom is imperiled. Was there a hardening of heart here – where the journalistic scoop endangered lives?

1. Lo Tik’potz Es Yadecha — Do Not Close Your Hand (Devarim 15:7)

This is the companion prohibition to the above. The Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 479) elaborates that the Torah’s concern is for the totality of one’s response to another in need — not merely the absence of direct cruelty, but the positive opening of one’s resources and one’s influence. Reporting in a manner that forewarns captors is, in this framework, the closing of the rescuer’s hand — because it makes rescue harder and more dangerous.

1. Lo Sa’amod Al Dam Rei’echa — Do Not Stand Idly By Your Brother’s Blood (Vayikra 19:16)

This is one of the most well-known halachic obligations in the area of life-saving, codified in Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 426:1 and in the Rambam’s Hilchos Rotzeiach. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (73a) derives from here the obligation to expend one’s own resources to save another’s life. But Rav Yosef Karo and the Sma both note that active contribution to the endangerment of another — even indirectly — can itself constitute a form of amidah al dam, standing by while blood is shed.

The question for Segal is stark: if the Iranian forces were unaware of the second crew member’s existence, and the publication of this information alerted them — then the journalist did not merely stand idly by; he may have actively contributed to the threat.

1. Lo Yirbu Bo Avodah — Do Not Allow Excessive Labor to Be Done to Him (Vayikra 25:43)

This prohibition applies specifically to a Jewish captive or servant, forbidding the infliction of additional burden. The Rambam includes it among the eight mitzvos because any action that worsens the captive’s condition — including alerting captors to information they did not have — increases the burden upon the captive. A missing crew member whose existence is suddenly publicized globally faces an immeasurably more difficult situation than one whose whereabouts remain unknown.

1. Paso’ach Tiftach Es Yadecha — Open Wide Your Hand (Devarim 15:8)

This positive commandment requires proactive intervention for one in need. By extension, the obligation carries within it a corresponding prohibition: do not take actions that undermine the ability of others to fulfill this mitzvah. When a journalist publishes information that hampers a rescue operation, he effectively forecloses fulfilling paso’ach tiftach — the open hand of rescue.

1. V’Chai Achicha Imach — And Your Brother Shall Live With You (Vayikra 25:36)

The Sheiltos of Rav Achai Gaon (She’ilta #37) and the Rambam both identify this verse as a foundational source for the obligation to preserve life. The Ramban in Toras HaAdam extends this to require active intervention to save life in any context where one has the capacity to act. Conversely, action that reduces a person’s chances of living and those fighting on his side — by alerting enemies to their location or existence — runs directly counter to the spirit and letter of this commandment.

1. V’Ahavta L’rei’acha Kamocha — Love Your Neighbor As Yourself (Vayikra 19:18)

The Ramban in Toras HaAdam and the Rambam both cite this mitzvah as a basis for the obligation to save life and to redeem captives. Would it be in the interest of those in active danger to have a journalist seeking to be first with a scoop and endangering others? The answer is self-evident. V’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha demands that we apply precisely this standard of self-identification to our every action affecting others.

1. V’Hatzeil Tilatzeil — You Shall Surely Save (Mishlei 24:11, as understood by the Rambam)

The Rambam includes within the eight mitzvos the obligation of active rescue — derived from the verse “Save those being taken to death” (Mishlei 24:11). This is a binding halachic imperative. To act in a manner that removes this possibility — by notifying captors of a captive’s existence — is to violate the very spirit of this commandment.

The Broader Danger: Israeli Citizens and the Safety of a Strategic Ally

There is another dimension to this story that demands serious halachic and moral attention, and it may in fact be the most consequential of all.

The United States is not merely a friendly nation to Israel. Other than the Shomer Yisroel, the US is Israel’s vital and strategic ally — the source of its military aid, its Iron Dome resupply, its diplomatic protection at the United Nations, and its most important guarantor of security in an increasingly hostile world. The relationship between the two countries is not merely one of shared interests; it is, the lifeline that Hashem has chosen now for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael.

When an Israeli journalist — regardless of his personal intentions — damages the trust between the Israeli press and the American intelligence and military establishment, the consequences ripple far beyond a single news cycle. The Rambam in Hilchos De’os (6:7) teaches that causing tzaar — pain and distress — to a community, and certainly to those upon whom that community depends for its survival, is a grave moral failing. The Maharal in Nesivos Olam similarly emphasizes that shalom — peaceful and trustworthy relations between peoples and nations — is itself a foundational Torah value, and one upon which the safety of Klal Yisrael frequently depends.

The obligations of hakaras hatov — gratitude. The Torah considers ingratitude — kefias tovah — among the most severe character failures a person can exhibit. The Mesillas Yesharim (Chapter 11) treats it as the root of many other moral failures. On a national level, the same principle applies with force. America has stood by Israel through wars, through diplomatic isolation, through existential crises. The Jewish people owe America hakaras hatov of the highest order. Actions by Israeli citizens that embarrass, anger, or undermine the American security establishment are, in this framework, not merely politically unwise — they represent a failure of the most basic moral obligation.

None of this is to say that Amit Segal acted with malicious intent. Journalists operate under their own codes of ethics, and the drive to inform the public is a genuine and important value. But the Torah’s framework is unambiguous: when the safety of a captive, the security of a military ally, and the lives of Israeli citizens are all potentially at stake, the obligation to pause, to consult, and to consider supersedes the competitive pressure to publish first.

Amit Segal is, by all accounts, a serious and respected journalist. This article does not presume to render a definitive ruling on his personal culpability. We do not know with certainty whether his publication increased the danger to the missing airman. We do not know whether the Iranians were already aware of a second crew member. We do not know the full circumstances of how the information reached him.

But the halachic framework is clear, and it is sobering. The Torah cares enormously about the life and freedom of every human being. The eight mitzvos that the Rambam enumerates in connection with pidyon shvuyim are binding obligations that shape how a Torah Jew must think about every action he takes that could affect another person’s captivity, safety, or life.

And beyond the fate of the single missing airman, there is a larger canvas: the safety of millions of Israeli citizens whose security depends, in part, on the trust and goodwill of the United States. Hakaras hatov, shalom, lo sa’amod al dam rei’echa, and the broader obligations of dina d’malkhusa dina all converge on a single conclusion.

Journalists operate in a world of competing pressures: the drive to be first, the obligation to protect sources, the public’s right to know. These are legitimate values in their own realm. But they exist within a higher framework — one that demands we ask, before we publish, before we post, before we broadcast: Could this information place a human being — or an entire people — in greater danger?

That question, the Torah tells us, must always come first.

The author can be reached at [email protected]