So the question remains, why do we view serial killers differently: Why don’t we say: “Maybe he is a tzaddik because he really wanted to kill ten people today but he only killed one?” Why don’t we say that the Arabs are “tinok shenishba” (so to speak) because they are taught and believe that G-d wants them to kill Jews?
This is something that I have thought about a lot, and I have come up with several possible answers:
1. Chazal say that someone who is merciful to cruel people will end up being cruel to merciful people. Maybe the person really is a tzaddik in Hashem’s Eyes but it would be bad for our middos for us to view him that way. That would not be true of people who are mechallel Shabbos or who are oiver on just about any other aveira other than murder.
2. Maybe we are wrong and we really are not supposed to be judgmental of murderers the same way we aren’t judgmental of people who are oiver on other aveiros.
3. The Sifsei Chaim makes the following point regarding a different issue. I forget the exact issue – something to do with Nevuah, I think. He states that Hashem would only put someone in a certain position (involving doing something good without having any bechira in the matter at hand) if Hashem knew that the person deserved it and He knew beforehand that this is a person who was going to use His bechira for good.
Perhaps one could apply the same principle here and say that Hashem would only put someone in a position where he will be brought up to murder Jews if He knows that the person is a bad person. Maybe one could say that Hashem would never put a good person in such a position.
This is not something that we say about keeping Shabbos. There is a concept of tinok shenishba when it comes to keeping Shabbos.
4. Maybe the concept of “tinok shenishba” doesn’t apply to Mitzvos Sichlios, of which murder is certainly one. Maybe it is so clear-cut and obvious that it is terrible to murder that one can never judge a murderer favorably.
5. When it comes to Arab terrorists, perhaps one would be able to say that they don’t realize it’s bad so it doesn’t make them bad. Except for one thing – one could only say that if they were doing it reluctantly and found it hard to kill. The way that we find it hard to kill when we must do so (in self -defense, for example).
The problem is that they don’t. They enjoy killing and try to torture their victims as much as they can. I saw a video of the lynching in Ramallah years ago – one of the terrorists held up his blood-filled hands – he was happy and proud of himself. He was definitely not a tinok shenishba.
And I saw a video of a play in which Arab College students made fun of Nachshon Wachsman HaKadosh, HY”D.
A good person would never enjoy killing someone else. But he might not realize that he is harming anyone when he doesn’t keep Shabbos or Kashrus.