Chief rabbi appeals to international religious leaders to help release Israeli hostages in Gaza

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Ber appeals to international religious leaders to help release Israeli hostages in Gaza as he attends the VIII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Kazakhstan.

“I would like to make a call together for peace in the world, but we must remember, for two years, we have had forty-eight hostages – brothers and sisters who are suffering in the tunnels of Gaza in terrible conditions. (…) I am begging you all – dear religious leaders – to make a call to the whole world: to bring the hostages home,” he says in his address shared with The Times of Israel by a spokesperson, who says the attendees include clergy from Iran, Qatar and Kuwait.

Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages during the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel. Forty-eight of them remain, with 20 believed to still be alive.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and a delegation from the Vatican are also set to attend the event. Pope Leo sent a message (his predecessor Francis attended the event in 2024).

“I want to make it clear to this important forum, this war is not a religious war at all,” Ber also says. “Judaism is not against any religion. In Judaism, we respect all religions.”

“What happened on October 7 is a completely different story,” he adds. “Terrorists from Gaza entered the Land of Israel to murder and torture us, men, women and children. We are fighting against them.”

Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef also attended the conference.