On Monday, several prominent rabbis from the right-wing religious Zionist community voiced their opposition to a proposed hostage exchange with Hamas. In an open letter, they argued that any deal involving troop withdrawal from Gaza and swapping captives for Palestinian prisoners would jeopardize Israeli lives.
Among the signatories of the letter were Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, and influential hardliners such as settler leaders Dov Lior and Elyakim Levanon, as well as Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu. This stance might further complicate efforts within Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s coalition to reach an agreement with Hamas if negotiations advance.
On Sunday, Netanyahu appeared ready to send a team back to the negotiating table after a prolonged break in talks. He conducted an “in-depth discussion” with negotiators and senior security officials before his Monday departure to the United States. There, he aims to secure Washington’s support for a stringent Israeli stance based on his four “non-negotiables.”
“The prices demanded to free the hostages endanger all Israelis — old, young and women,” the rabbis’ letter read. “For example: releasing all the dangerous monsters so Hamas can rebuild its collapsed army, withdrawing from strategic areas, and stopping the fighting before Hamas is defeated.”
The letter emphasized that the risks of such a deal outweighed the Jewish obligation to rescue captives. It is believed that 116 of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 44 confirmed dead by the IDF.
“We suggest to our leaders that God will present good counsel on how to redeem the hostages, while ensuring the continued existence and well-being of the State of Israel,” the letter continued.
The 18 signatories are considered highly influential among the hard-right Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties in Netanyahu’s coalition. The leaders of these parties have indicated they might leave the coalition if a “reckless” deal with Hamas is struck, complicating efforts to resolve the hostage crisis after nearly 10 months.
In contrast to these rabbis, MK Moshe Gafni, head of one of the factions within the chareidi United Torah Judaism coalition party, expressed support on Monday for an immediate deal to free the remaining Gaza hostages at any cost. He described the Jewish principle of redeeming captives as “one of the most important commandments in the Torah, if not the most important.”
“We are in favor of doing an arrangement for the release of the hostages, all of them, now,” the influential politician was heard saying in a recording aired by Channel 12 news.
The recording was reportedly made during a meeting Gafni held with five relatives of hostages on Monday morning.
“Our position, I’m telling you here in this room, within these four walls, and I say it to the prime minister: Today, we have to free the hostages at any price,” he was heard saying.
Negotiations to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and release the hostages have recently generated increasing optimism. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that “we’re in the 10-yard line” for a deal. Energy Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the security cabinet, stated in an interview with Channel 12 news on Sunday that a deal could be finalized within two weeks.
Over the weekend, eight members of Netanyahu’s own Likud party declared their opposition to the current proposal. In a letter to the prime minister, they warned that “any agreement that includes the withdrawal of our forces from their current positions in Gaza is a complete defeat.”
Specifically, they cautioned against withdrawing from the Philadelphi Route between Gaza and Egypt, which Israel asserts Hamas uses to smuggle arms into the Strip. Likud MK Amit Halevi, one of the signatories, told The Times of Israel on Sunday that he “will not be part of a coalition that takes our soldiers out of Philadelphi.”
{Matzav.com Israel}