‘Now is the time for peace’: Jewish organizations worldwide applaud hostage release

Community leaders pray for healing and thank Trump for helping to secure Gaza deal

Jewish groups across the world welcomed the return of Israel’s hostages two years after Hamas started the war with its invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

“Today is a day of hope and, we pray, the beginning of healing for the hostages, their families and all of Israel,” the Jewish Federations of North America said in a statement. “Through 18 major Jewish holidays and 105 Shabbat dinners, Jewish families in Israel and around the world had empty chairs at our tables, yellow ribbons on our lapels, and fractures in our hearts. Each of those 1 million minutes was filled with anguish and uncertainty — wondering if the hostages would live or die, knowing that the Jewish people were incomplete without them.”

Many organizations thanked US President Donald Trump and his team for their efforts to secure the deal for the release of the hostages.

“We owe this achievement to the resilience of our people — forged through thousands of years of persecution and antisemitism — and to the unwavering commitment of the United States and President Trump to defend the Jewish state and to uphold the principle that terror must never be rewarded,” World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said in a statement. “This is the moment that the people of Israel and Jews across the diaspora have prayed for, fought for, and refused to stop believing in. It is what their families have dreamed of every single day since October 7, 2023.”

The European Jewish Congress, which represents over 40 Jewish communities across Europe, thanked Trump in an open letter published on its social media accounts.

“Mr. President, throughout this terrible two-year period of waiting for their release from the tunnels of Gaza, your commitment to the welfare of the hostages, the security of the State of Israel, and your embrace not only of the hostage families but also of all the People of Israel, has been unswerving and unparalleled,” the EJC wrote. “We wish you only further success in your noble cause of peace and we join with the Jewish People in Israel and around the world in wishing you a heartfelt Beruchim Haba’im [welcome] to our Jewish State.”

Welcoming the deal, Board of Deputies of British Jews President Phil Rosenberg said the return of the hostages is an opportunity for Great Britain to step back from growing antisemitism and embrace peace.

“In the UK, this moment must prompt reflection,” he said in a statement. “The profound damage to community cohesion and the massive increase in antisemitism since 7 October 2023, culminating in the deadly terrorist attack in Manchester on Yom Kippur, require a concerted response.”

“We have all had enough of war,” Rosenberg said. “Now is the time for peace.”