Former Sephardi chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef called for the government to agree on an immediate hostage release deal on Thursday, saying that doing so falls under the Jewish law of Pikuach Nefesh, which states that saving a human life overrides any other commandment.
Rabbi Yosef made the comments at the President's Residence during an event that took place on Thursday. In addition to calling for a hostage deal, Rabbi Yosef said that it is permissible to release terrorists who committed criminal acts as part of the deal.
"Finish the deal and make it quickly. There is no other choice. Releasing terrorists with blood on their hands is heart-wrenching; we released Yahya Sinwar, and we saw what came of him," Rabbi Yosef said.
"But this is a current life-saving imperative [Pikuach Nefesh]. If you don't release them, [Hamas] will kill the hostages now," he explained.
Rabbi Yosef added that while the terrorists released in exchange for the hostages will most likely carry out future attacks, that is not a concern for right now. According to him, the hostages must be saved immediately, and a deal cannot be put off until the future.
"If you release terrorists with blood on their hands, they might go and kill us. But that's not immediate. The hostages are immediate; there are negotiations," he said.
What does Jewish law say about hostage release?
Elaborating on the rules of Jewish law, he explained that "it is permissible to release all these cursed terrorists, and if they do anything afterward, even something small, they should be killed immediately. We need to pray for the hostages, that they all return home, for their mental and physical health, and that we hear good news about them, amen and amen."
Rabbi Yosef's remarks came after the religious, political party Shas widely circulated a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, calling on him to sign the hostage deal for the sake of the mitzvah (commandment) of redeeming captives, writing that they "support and strengthen you in your efforts to complete the hostage deal."