News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Senior religious-Zionist rabbis will take part in a public discussion next Tuesday at Jerusalem's Great Synagogue on the question: Is it permissible to release terrorists for Israeli hostages? The question applies not only to the individual case of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, but to an ethical code on hostage deals to be published in a few weeks by the Shamgar Commission.

The debate will take place within the framework of an evening seminar in memory of former Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren, who criticized the 1985 Jibril deal in which 1,150 Arab prisoners were freed in exchange for three captive Israeli soldiers. Rabbi Chaim Druckman will present Rabbi Goren's view, while Rabbi Shar Yeshuv Cohen will speak about the question as a former captive of the Jordanian Arab Legion. Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva will provide a halachic (Jewish legal) analysis, while Reserves General Ya'akov Amidror will present a security viewpoint.