Sephardic Chief Rabbi Calls for Deal Even if It Rewards Thousands of Palestinian Prisoners

Israel – The Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews in Israel, Yitzhak Yosef, called on Sunday for a prisoner exchange deal with Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, even in exchange for the release of hundreds or thousands of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

Political and popular anger is rising in Israel against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning of the possibility of an explosion in the situation. On Sunday evening, about 770,000 Israelis demonstrated to demand a prisoner exchange, and on Monday, labor and economic institutions are witnessing a strike.

On Sunday, Rabbi Yosef participated in the funeral of one of the six Israeli prisoners found by the Israeli army in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian factions movement said that they were killed in Israeli raids.

Following the funeral, Yousef said: “Everything must be done to free the kidnapped (detainees), including freeing hundreds and thousands” of those he claimed were “murderers with blood on their hands,” according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The rabbi is referring to Palestinian prisoners accused of killing Israelis, in response to what the Palestinians assert are crimes committed daily by the Israeli occupation for decades against the Palestinian people, their property and their holy sites, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque.

“This is how things should be, according to Jewish law,” Bosef added. “We must do our utmost to return all the hostages.”

Tel Aviv is holding more than 9,500 Palestinians in its prisons, and currently estimates that there are 101 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while Hamas announced the killing of dozens of them in random Israeli raids.

For months, security officials, the opposition and the families of prisoners have accused Netanyahu of obstructing the conclusion of an agreement, fearing the collapse of his ruling coalition and the loss of his position, and they are demanding that he resign and hold early elections.

Far-right ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are threatening to withdraw from the government and bring it down if it accepts an agreement to end the war.

Anatolia