The IDF cannot speak in slogans such as ‘if someone comes to kill you, arise to kill them first,’ or ‘everyone who carries scissors should be killed,’” he said. And he had an example for what was bothering him: “There were places with a 13-year-old girl holding scissors or a knife, and there’s a barrier between her and the soldiers. I wouldn’t want to see a soldier opening fire and emptying a (rifle) magazine on such a girl.” Eisenkot wasn’t doing more than repeating the principles of the Israel Defense Forces’ long-standing rules of engagement: that a soldier should only shoot to kill in a clear life-threatening situation. But he knew that in the current atmosphere of hysteria over the stabbings, it is no longer that clear.
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