We are outraged and horrified at the confirmation of Gina Haspel to head the CIA.
Given Ms. Haspel’s role in the CIA’s now-defunct torture program, her confirmation further reduces the United States’ moral standing at a time when our president daily makes this world a more dangerous place.
Haspel’s oversight of a CIA black site constitutes an extreme moral offense that overrides any other qualifications she might have to serve as the head of the CIA. Since she will nonetheless be our new CIA director, we call on her to stand up to President Trump, especially if he calls on her to reinstate the torture program.
T’ruah has fought state-sponsored torture since 2004, and our network of almost 2,000 rabbis and cantors fought hard to block Ms. Haspel’s confirmation. We are grateful to the many T’ruah rabbis and clergy who signed our petition urging the Senate to reject Ms. Haspel, published op-eds in their local newspapers and hand-delivered our petition to their senators.
While we were unsuccessful in this battle, we were heartened by the fact that Ms. Haspel’s nomination sparked national discussion about torture, and that many senators called on Ms. Haspel to denounce this immoral practice. We will continue speaking out against torture, just as we spoke out throughout the dark days of US state-sponsored torture as part of the War on Terror.
The Torah teaches that every human being is created in God’s image. This assertion applies to all people, friend or enemy. The shame and humiliation caused by torture degrade the divine image inherent in each of us. Furthermore, the Torah commands not to inflict punishments that degrade the perpetrator. How much more so must dignity be respected in interrogations, where guilt has not been established and where torture neither effectively produces accurate intelligence nor keeps us safe.
But torture is more than just ineffective. It is also deeply immoral. Torture violates the very basic human dignity of the suspects, even if they turn out to be guilty. As the Talmud teaches, “When a human being suffers, what does God say? My head is too heavy for me, my arm is too heavy for me. Thus God suffers over the blood of the wicked, how much more so over the blood of the righteous.” (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6:5)
We will watch Ms. Haspel and the Trump Administration closely in the coming months to ensure they do not take steps to allow state-sponsored torture. And we will never stop raising our voices.
Media Contact
Julie Wiener, T’ruah Communications Director
jwiener@truah.org; 917-655-4586
About T’ruah
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, brings together rabbis and cantors from all streams of Judaism, together with all members of the Jewish community, to act on the Jewish imperative to respect and advance the human rights of all people. Grounded in Torah and our Jewish historical experience and guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we call upon Jews to assert Jewish values by raising our voices and taking concrete steps to protect and expand human rights in North America, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.
