Halakhah do Sędziów 21:78

To be sure, in the case of the ticking bomb it is not the physical existence of the recalcitrant terrorist that poses the danger but the terrorist's failure to speak. The passivity of non-feasance is even more pronounced then the passivity of existence. Nevertheless, the notion that passive nonintervention is encompassed within the law of the pursuer is assumed as a matter of course by R. Naphtali Zevi Judah Berlin in this commentary on She'iltot de-Rav Aḥa'i Ga'on, Ha'amek She'elah, She'ilta 142:9. Judges 21:5 records that any person who might fail to appear in order to participate in the action taken against the tribe of Benjamin would be put to death. Ha'amek She'elah asserts that the culpability of those individuals stemmed from the law of the pursuer. Failure to join in the disciplinary action of the community, he asserts, would expose fragmentation within the nation and strengthen the resolve of the external enemies. Strengthening the hand of the enemy even by purely passive nonfeasance, according to Ha'amek She'elah, renders such an individual a pursuer.