Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger met this past week with Moslem and Iranian religious leaders in Kazakhstan, and explained that his position as "Rabbi of the Jews" stood him in good stead.
"The story began two months ago," he told Arutz-7, "when a third party arranged a meeting for me two months ago with the President of Kazakhstan, who is both a good friend of the President of his neighboring country, Iran, and someone who helped free the 13 Jews imprisoned in Iran. My goal, of course, was to help in the efforts to obtain information on and the release of Ron Arad and the captives of Hizbullah.
"In my meeting two months ago, which was the first time that a Chief Rabbi of Israel set foot in an officially Moslem nation, I asked him if he could help us to obtain any and all information on the captives, and explained with great emotion how important it was for their wives and families to know the truth. My words apparently penetrated his heart, and at this last meeting, he told me that since we met two months ago, he had spoken to the President of Iran at least 5 times on this matter, and he said, 'I hope that you will now hear regards and a new tone in the Middle East.' ... It's hard to know how much of a role I played, but the fact is that [Hizbullah chief] Nasrallah is now saying that he will make great efforts to get information on Ron Arad - for the first time in many years..."
"If so," asked Arutz-7's Emanuel Shilo, "why do we need Hizbullah? Let's just talk straight with the Iranians!"
Rabbi Metzger said, "It's not conclusive that the Iranians are holding Arad, and in fact the Iranians in the delegation argued among themselves on this point... I told them that we are all the sons of one father - Abraham - and that we will mention the merit of Abraham in our Rosh HaShanah prayers. 'Do you think it's pleasant for him to look down upon his children and see them fighting and committing suicide in order to kill their brothers?' I asked them. 'He would certainly much rather see us like this, talking at one table.' They said openly that they had never heard talk like this, and admitted that it was easier for them to talk to us as Jews than as Israelis; they always say they have nothing against Judaism, but only against Israel. I was presented not as Chief Rabbi of Israel, but as Rabbi of the Jews. It's clear that this is a very long process, and this step was merely an aid to the contacts that have long been going on and hopefully in the end will bring back the captives, or at least information on them."