ECAJ statement on ceasefire and hostage deal.

Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry president Daniel Aghion KC responded to news of the ceasefire and hostage deal saying:

The Aus­trali­an Jewish community is greatly relieved. For the past 15 months, we have watched in dismay as civilian hostages have been held and used as a bar­gain­ing chip to achieve Hamas’ evil ends.

We con­grat­u­late the Israeli gov­ern­ment for achieving a ceasefire and we hope and fervently pray that the deal will stick and the hostages will be returned.

There is still the question of Hamas control of Gaza which will need to be dealt with if the Palestini­ans are to have any chance of self-determ­in­a­tion in the Gaza Strip.

For now, however, we are pleased to see a res­ol­u­tion and we hope that this difficult war will soon come to a permanent end with peace for all peoples of the region.