UTJ leader says Haredi party will back any deal that releases hostages

Following threats by Oztma Yehudit and Religious Zionism leaders Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to bolt the coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves a hostage and truce deal presented by US President Joe Biden late last week, United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf declares that he will support “any measure” that brings back the hostages.

“I told the representatives of the kidnapped families today that our position is that there is nothing greater than the value of life and the mitzvah of ransoming captives, because there is a real and tangible danger to their lives,” he tweets alongside a photo of himself and relatives of the hostages.

“Therefore, we will support any proposal that will lead to the release of the abductees,” the leader of the ultra-Orthodox party states.