A number of families of hostages appealed to religious Zionist Rabbis on the question of how to address the emerging deal exchanging hostages for terrorists. In response, the Rabbis sent them a letter explaining the many deficiencies of the deal, including surrender to the enemy, danger to IDF soldiers and the citizens of the state, future dangers, and so forth.
The letter, signed by Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg, Rabbi David Druckman, and Rabbi Eliyahu Zeini, opens with a prayer for the return of the hostages: “We are all with you as one person, ‘in hiding, my soul shall weep … and form a tear and my eye will bring down a tear for the flock of God has been taken captive.’ We pray with all our heart for the wellbeing of our beloved sons and daughters in danger and captives of a cruel enemy, and yearn for God’s salvation in their return to their families, safe and sound.”
"The end of the fighting could cost much blood”
The Rabbis later listed the many dangers in the deal: “In response to your appeal regarding the emerging deal, we hereby reveal our opinion and strengthen your hand in the principled statement that the government must not surrender to terror and extortion. The ending of the fighting in the middle at the present stage, while surrendering to the dictates of the enemy, is a serious danger to our soldiers and all the citizens of the state, allowing the enemy to arm and lift their head, may cost much blood, God forbid and even defeat the victory.”
In addition, the Rabbis discussed the importance of the commandment of redeeming captives against the future costs of the deal: “The Torah of Israel instructs us [to follow] the responsible security approach: ‘You have no commandment as great as redeeming captives,’ but we must not agree to extortion leading to serious troubles in the future. Ending the war now is an exorbitant price we must not agree to. We all saw the bitter results of irresponsible deals in the past, where murderers were released who returned to harm us.”
Continue the War in Full Force for the Hostages
After listing all the deal’s deficiencies, the Rabbis laid out what they considered the ideal course of action: “The right way for the hostages today is to continue the war at full force without stopping, to strive to eliminate the terror organizations, and increase pressure on the enemy as much as possible, to reach a position of strength which will allow us to dictate terms, and to bring about the freeing of all the hostages, with God’s help.”
The letter was ended with the prayer: “May God answer us and hear the voice of our cry, and may [the verse] be realized for us ‘And the redeemed of God shall return and come to Zion in song and eternal joy on their heads, gaiety and happiness they will find, and sorrow and sighs will flee’ quickly in our day, Amen.”
