National and international Jewish organizations reacted positively to Wednesday’s news of a cease-fire and hostage release agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.
The deal emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States to put a stop to the war in Gaza, according to Reuters.
Scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, the deal is a six-week initial cease-fire with the gradual withdrawal of troops from the Gaza Strip. Hostages taken by Hamas would be returned in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held captive in Israel. The deal also allows a boost in humanitarian aid for Gaza, Reuters reported.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal is not official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government, according to an Israeli official. A vote was scheduled for Thursday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, blaming Hamas for making last-minute demands and reneging on agreements.
Despite uncertainty about how the deal will proceed, Jewish leaders said they welcome the tentative agreement.
American Jewish Committee applauds the first stage of an agreement that would release 33 of the 98 remaining Israeli hostages taken on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a Jan. 15 press release. The deal also “outlines a path forward to secure the release of all remaining hostages held in inhumane conditions in Gaza and potentially end more than 15 months of war and suffering for Israelis and Gazans.”
“While we await the final announcement from the Israeli government, AJC is grateful to the Biden Administration, the incoming Trump Administration, and other global partners for working together to secure the first stage of the agreement,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in the press release. “We cannot wait to see the first hostages come home to their families, but the critical work to free every hostage — regardless of age, gender, or nationality — must continue.”
“We welcome [Thursday’s] news of a cease-fire and hostage agreement with bittersweet joy: with open arms to embrace and welcome home the hostages, with hearts filled with deep appreciation for all those who made this cease-fire possible, and with heartfelt prayers that, from the ashes of this enormous tragedy, a process might finally emerge that leads to true and lasting peace with security for all,” a joint statement by Reform Jewish leaders read.
Sheila Katz, the CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, said this agreement offers a “fragile but critical glimmer of hope amid the darkness.”
“An agreement to secure the release of the hostages, increase humanitarian aid, and lead to an end of the war is a welcome and necessary development after 15 months of devastation,” she said in a statement, adding that this news will not result in instant relief.
“After close to 500 days of the unimaginable darkness of captivity, this long-awaited day leaves us with a confused jumble of feelings,” Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, said in a statement. “We rejoice with the hostages who are being released, and we weep with those remaining in the hands of the Hamas monsters. We rejoice with the families reunited with their loved ones and we weep with the many families left waiting.”
The return of all hostages and their reunification with their families is the top priority for many, including Rob Spitzer, the president of B’nai B’rith International, and Daniel S. Mariaschin, the organization’s CEO, who called Oct. 7, 2023, a “horrific and sickening display of barbarism” in a statement.
“The Israeli-American Council (IAC) celebrates the release of these tortured captives and prays for the speedy return of the remaining 65 hostages,” a statement by the IAC read.
The Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly is “grateful and elated” to learn the news of the hostages’ release.
“We cannot and will not rest until every remaining hostage is brought home,” Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement.
“We have met with numerous hostage families and felt their extraordinary pain,” a statement by the Jewish Democratic Council of America read. “Today, we are relieved and hopeful that the hostages will soon be reunited with their loved ones, and we are praying for their health given the incredibly difficult conditions they’ve endured in Hamas captivity.”
The JDCA statement referred to the tentative deal as a “necessary step forward.”
Sacha Roytman Dratwa, the CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, expressed relief that hostages would be returning home, and condemned Hamas for its “barbaric tactics, reducing innocent lives to macabre bargaining chips.”
Many Jewish organizations thanked Netanyahu, President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and each leader’s team for their efforts toward freeing the hostages.
“For over fifteen months, President Biden and key members of his administration … have insisted that any conversation about bringing an end to the war must include the release of the hostages, and today, we are finally seeing the result of those painstaking negotiations,” the JDCA statement read.
The Republican Jewish Coalition thanked Trump and his team for his role in moving this process along and for their “unwavering support for Israel’s security.”
The RJC wrote that Trump’s comment that there “would be hell to pay” if a deal wasn’t reached for a hostage release before he took office on Jan. 20 was instrumental in coming to this agreement.
JDCA “strongly urge[s]” the incoming Trump administration to continue the progress that Biden and his diplomatic team made to end the Israel-Hamas war and ensure that all parties uphold their sides of the bargain. RJC leaders said they look forward to strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship under the Trump administration, which they said will bring “new opportunities to work toward peace, security, and cooperation for Israel and for the Middle East.”
Other Jewish organizations echoed the sentiment of lasting peace in the Middle East region.
“As we wait — hopefully but nervously — for the hostages’ return, we pray for a full and final resolution to the war, a return to normalcy in Israel, ending the suffering in Gaza, and for a future that allows Israelis and Palestinians, their children and grandchildren, to live with dignity and safety,” a statement by the Rabbinical Assembly read.
