Opinion of the Rebbe:[1]

The Rebbe did not give any halachic ruling as to the question of whether releasing terrorists in exchange for hostages is permitted according to Jewish law, and made mention that indeed Halachic deliberation exists as to its permissibility being that it involves saving a Jewish life. Nonetheless, the Rebbe disagreed with the release of a large number of terrorists in exchange for one soldier as done by the Avraham Amram release deal [i.e. 76 terrorists were exchanged for one Israeli soldier] as a grave tactical error which will invite future kidnappings, and cause more Jewish blood to be spilled. Accordingly, in the Rebbe’s opinion, the policy of the Israeli government must be to not negotiate with terrorists and not to agree to a mass prisoner release deal, even if doing so will lead to Israeli casualties. [Seemingly, in the Rebbe’s opinion, while there is room to permit a prisoner swap agreement in exchange for hostages, it is not an obligation to do so, and therefore it practically should not be done for a large number of terrorists, due to the reasons explained above.] It’s interesting to note that as a solution to the constant headache of terrorists committing kidnappings for the hope of getting a release of other terrorist prisoners, the Rebbe strongly pressed on Israeli officials to have a death penalty for terrorists rather than hold them in Israeli prisons as potential bargaining chips which motivate the future kidnappings.[2]]

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[1] Sichas Motzei Parshas Bamidbar 5739 regarding the 76 terrorists that were exchanged for one Israeli soldier, Avraham Amram; See also Igros Kodesh 31 p. 332 regarding the discussion to release terrorists in exchange for the hostages that were later released in the Entebbe operation in which the Rebbe expresses surprise that no one thought of the fact that perhaps even after an agreement is reached with the terrorists and the release of the terrorist prisoners takes place, the terrorists will not agree to release all the hostages alive.

[2] During a yechidus with an Israeli official, the Rebbe strongly criticized the Israeli governments policy of arresting and imprisoning Arab terrorists. “You are mistaken when you arrest and imprison terrorists,” the Rebbe warned. “These terrorists came to kill and they should be killed. You’re going to end up paying dearly when they demand the release of these killers in a prisoner exchange.”