Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
ZOA is thrilled and grateful for the hostages and their families that all the hostages will be coming home on Monday/Tuesday. Hamas’ unspeakable torture and abuse of our innocent brothers and sisters, and their families’ painful waiting and uncertainty about their loved ones’ fates, will finally come to an end. We wish all of the starved, abused, suffering hostages and their families a refuah shelaima – a full and speedy healing of body and soul. This has been a horrific ordeal for them and for the entire Jewish nation.
ZOA again thanks President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu for their unceasing efforts to help release our brothers and sisters from captivity. And we again profoundly thank President Trump for supporting any and all of Israel’s actions if Hamas and the Palestinian Arabs do not fulfill their obligations required under Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan.
The ZOA recognizes that the deal seems to mollify some of the world’s leaders and their citizens’ huge surge of hatred toward Israel and Jews. There is also now a possibility of more peace deals with other Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. This is another potentially positive consequence of this agreement.
We must, however, reiterate our concerns about the Gaza deal, commencing with the first stage: the release of over 1,950 evil Palestinian Arab/Islamist terrorists. That’s 100 Arab/Islamist terrorists released for each hostage. Our holy Torah warns that we dare not overpay for hostages. Yet we are doing exactly that. And at least 250 of these Arab/Islamist terrorists were convicted of heinous murders and terrorist attacks against innocent Jewish Israelis.
We are deeply worried that the “Yahya Sinwars” among these released terrorists will again plot and carry out terror attacks that murder far more Jews than the 20 we just saved. A tiger doesn’t change its stripes. We cannot forget that Sinwar was released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal, in which 1,027 terrorists, including 280 serving life sentences for murder and other terror activities, were exchanged for one Israeli. Forty of those released became Hamas leaders. Following his release, Sinwar orchestrated the October 7th mass atrocities, torture, rape and murder of 1,200 innocent Jews and others; the wounding of 5,000 innocent Jews and others; and kidnapping of 252 Jews and others. Other terrorists released in the Shalit deal murdered innocent Israelis following their release.
The data presented to Israel’s cabinet by former head of Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) Ronen Bar showed that 82% of the Palestinian Arabs released in the Gilad Shalit deal returned to terror activity following their release.
The 1985 Jibril deal was another lopsided deal in which released Arab terrorists went on to lead more terror attacks. Three Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terror organization were exchanged for 1,150 Palestinian Arab. One of those released terrorists was Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who founded Hamas two years after his release. Other terrorists released in the Jibril deal led the First Intifada (1987-1993), in which the Palestinian Arab terrorists murdered or maimed thousands of innocent Jews.
Due to the prospect of more terror, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, a renowned scholar, is warning against the current deal. Israel Nat’l News reported:
Ben-Artzi noted that when he opposed the Shalit deal in 2011 and was labeled a “spoilsport,” he never imagined that its price would ultimately be “around two thousand dead and murdered, and thousands more wounded. And even now, we cannot fathom the scale of the next disaster we are signing onto at this very moment. We don’t yet see the faces or the names, the towns and the homes — but for me, it’s already real. For forty years already, I’ve fought against the moral abomination of releasing terrorists.”
We are also concerned about the U.S. guarantee to protect Qatar if Israel attempts to eliminate Hamas terrorist leaders living in luxury in Doha while orchestrating attacks against Israelis. (See Executive Order Assuring the Security of the State of Qatar, Sept. 29, 2025.) This guarantee turns Qatar – one of the two leading funders of Hamas’ terror – into an unassailable safe haven for Arab/Islamist terrorists. The U.S. should not give Qatar NATO-level protections while Qatar continues to give aid and comfort to the world’s leading terrorists. It seems obvious, from the fact that the hostage deal coincided with the U.S. Executive Order protecting Qatar, that Qatar could have obtained the release of the hostages at any time – but instead held out for the maximum advantage for the terrorists.
We cannot forget that Qatar funded and aided Hamas to murder forty-six innocent Americans on October 7, kidnap another twelve innocent Americans, and murder at least four of these kidnapped Americans while they were in captivity.
The release of this huge number of Arab/Islamist terrorists, coupled with the U.S. guarantees to protect Qatar, sends a dangerous message that kidnapping pays, and pays well. This will only inspire future kidnappings. These prizes for terror and kidnapping will moreover make Hamas into heroes among terrorists, the Palestinian Arabs and all the world’s Jew-haters. Hamas is already praising this deal.
Moreover, why is Hamas negotiating for the most notorious terrorists to be released, when the deal is supposed to eliminate Hamas from any role?
ZOA previously expressed our qualified support with concerns about the deal. Those concerns continue. In addition to the large number of terrorists released in the deal, ZOA is concerned about: hostile-to-Israel Tony Blair having an important oversight role; the prospect that untrustworthy partisan Palestinian Arabs and ultimately even the terrorist dictators of the Palestinian Authority could aid in running Gaza; that Hamas leaders will not be held accountable for their Nazi-like barbarism and atrocities, and that they have been given the right to remain in Gaza; whether the plan will really include the strenuous, drastic, long-term programs and efforts needed to re-educate and deradicalize an entire population; a seeming reliance on economic improvements which have virtually no impact on deradicalization; whether Israel will be able to retain a sufficient perimeter presence in Gaza to eliminate security threats to Israel; whether Israel will continue to control the critical Philadelphi corridor border between Gaza and Egypt; whether the deal will be interpreted to prevent Israel from inspecting aid trucks for weapons; whether the aid distribution role given to UN agencies will reinvigorate Hamas-infested UNRWA; whether aid distribution provisions in the deal will eliminate the important work of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; even the vague mention of a pathway to a Palestinian state – which would be a terror enclave and should never be allowed; and the uncertainty that Hamas, the Palestinian Authority terror regime, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and others will fulfill their obligations under the agreement – especially in light of the fact that Hamas and the PA broke every previous deal. The Gazan Arabs, who participated in Oct. 7, are not paying the price of losing any part of Gaza in this deal. See here for details.
We are also compelled to state that a goal of the war was to destroy and disarm Hamas, and this has not yet been achieved. It is painful to remember that most military experts stated that in another month or two, Israel’s military would have surely destroyed Hamas in its last stronghold of Gaza City and forced a true unconditional surrender.
ZOA also noted that Hamas’ demands and refusals to disarm amount to a rejection of the deal as accepted by all the parties. We are concerned this deal is a short-term victory that may bode ill for the long term. Unfortunately, in every previous instance when ZOA has expressed concerns, we have been proven to be correct. We nevertheless hope and pray that our concerns here will be proven wrong this time.