From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Shas says it fully supports Israel’s Gaza hostage deal proposal
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The Haredi Shas party will support the the hostage deal proposal presented by US President Joe Biden last week, it says.
“At the faction meeting that took place yesterday, the Israeli proposal for the abductees deal was discussed. In the end, the faction decided to fully support the Israeli proposal, which includes far-reaching measures for the return of the hostages and the observance of the miztvah of redeeming captives,” the party says in a statement.
“Shas supports the proposal and backs the prime minister and the war cabinet in facing off all pressure, reaching a deal and saving the lives of many of our brothers and sisters who are in distress and captivity.”
Shas’s support comes less than a day after United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf tweeted that his party “will support any proposal that will lead to the release of the abductees.”
While both ultra-Orthodox parties have now come out in favor of the proposal, which Biden presented as being Israeli in origin, the Knesset’s two far-right national religious parties, Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism, have both threatened to bring down the government if the deal is adopted, saying it amounts to a surrender to Hamas.
The Times of Israel Community.