Herzog to Jewish Leaders at Gathering to Combat Antisemitism: “Jewish Unity Has Never Been More Important”

As part of the Week of Combating Anti-Semitism, President Yitzchak Herzog hosted Jewish leaders and Israel supporters from around the world Wednesday, at his residence.

During the event, a panel was held with several heads of Jewish communities who shared their difficult experiences around the world in the past year.

In his speech, Herzog called for collective action against anti-Semitism and emphasized the critical importance of Jewish unity in the face of unprecedented challenges, which have never been felt so clearly and deeply as the need to return the hostages.

“Jewish unity is not just an idea, it is a living, breathing force,” Herzog said. “We feel it most deeply when we stand together in demanding the immediate release of our kidnapped people.”

Addressing Ayelet Samarno, mother of hostage Jonathan, Herzog said: “Ayelet, your courage is our courage. Your pain is our pain. And your struggle is our struggle,” he said. “We will not stop. We will not rest. We will not be silent until Jonathan and every one of our hostages are home.”

Herzog spoke of the rise of global anti-Semitism since Oct. 7, and called on Jewish communities and the Jewish people to take decisive action. The President emphasized: “The fact is that there is no circumstance and no equation in which denying the right of the Jewish people to live safely in their only nation-state is not anti-Semitism. To question the existence of the only Jewish nation-state is to declare that there is no place for Jews in the world.”

He quoted “credible sources” who informed him that over 180 million TikTok accounts were opened in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre, engineered to foment anti Israel propaganda.

The President thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for his action at Columbia University, which failed to protect its Jewish students from anti-Semitism on campus.

Herzog noted that he has seen a sense of Jewish pride after Oct. 7. “We saw the Jews of October 8, those whose Jewish identity had not been a central influence in their lives until then, boldly proclaim: ‘We are Jews!’”