Chief rabbi strongly backs releasing terrorists ‘with blood on their hands’ for hostages

Newly appointed Sephardic Chief Rabbi David Yosef says Israel has a responsibility to release terrorists, even those convicted of carrying out mass murders, in order to win the freedom of hostages being held in Gaza.

“My father handed down a very clear religious edict that it is allowed and necessary to release terrorists, even many terrorists, even killers with blood on their hands, to release them in exchange for hostages,” he says in an interview with the Haredi news site Kikar Hashabbat.

Yosef’s father, Ovadiah Yosef, was a powerfully influential rabbi who founded the Shas political party, which is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. Both Shas and fellow ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism have come out strongly in support of a hostage deal, even as far-right coalition partners have railed against the possibility of releasing Palestinians with serious terror convictions.

Yosef says his father penned the ruling during the Entebbe hostage crisis of 1976, before Israeli commandos managed to free almost all of the passengers being held hostage in Uganda.

According to Jewish law, the danger faced by hostages today needs to be weighed against the potential future danger posed by the freed terrorists, Yosef says. “My father’s answer was that the current danger comes first.”

Yosef’s comments could help provide a tailwind for a deal, with both Israeli and Palestinian officials indicating that the sides have made progress. Among the remaining issues are thought to be the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages and their identities.