Posted on 10/04/21
Today (4 October 2021), President Isaac Herzog addressed the opening of the Winter Assembly of the Twenty-Fourth Knesset.
President Isaac Herzog’s full speech:
"Ladies and gentlemen,
Three months ago, on this very stage, I swore an oath of allegiance before you, to faithfully and lovingly fulfil the role of President of the State of Israel. I made a commitment then, before the whole Israeli population, to embark on a journey between the fault lines and fissures of Israeli society. A journey that will aim to find what unites us, despite our differences; what brings us together, despite our rifts. A journey to rediscover us: citizens, communities, and societies, the different cultures and tunes among us—sharing the same prayers and longings, the same hopes and dreams. The complicated and ever-rare portrait that is our dear State of Israel, a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
One of the brave individuals I have met on my journey is Staff Sergeant Moshe Elmaliah. When we met, I asked him to tell me his story, about his complicated reality, his daily struggles, the challenges he faced along the way—those he has overcome, and those that have managed to impede him. Like many young people whose daily lives are neither simple nor fair, those who unfortunately never receive a real chance, Moshe also got into trouble as a youth and stumbled into criminality. Before him lay one long slope. But a split second before the abyss, Moshe decided to choose otherwise. He underwent an extraordinary process of rehabilitation in the village of Malkishua, enlisted for training at the IDF’s Havat HaShomer base, where he graduated with a full matriculation certificate, and began a process that culminated with his enlistment into the Golani Brigade.
Moshe is now a twenty-two-year-old soldier, a staff-sergeant, an outstanding combat soldier in the Golani Brigade. An exemplary, responsible, and dedicated soldier, a “big brother” for his fellow comrades. Moshe Elmaliah represents an individual’s ability to choose anew, every day. To atone, to make amends, to change. Because Moshe did not only receive a second chance; he also chose to grab it with his bare hands, in order to build a better life for himself.
Now more than ever, at the opening of the second session of the Twenty-Fourth Knesset, you, Members of Knesset, have not a second chance, but a fourth. An opportunity that you must not squander—to build a better life in the State of Israel, for the sake of all of us. I call on you to grab this opportunity with your bare hands. We stand on the cusp of a new year, at the opening of a new Knesset session, during which the state budget—including the Government’s work plan—will be submitted for your approval, representatives of the people.
The nasty and dastardly coronavirus, which has taught us all a great lesson in humility, will continue to accompany people’s lives all around the world. The preparation and advance planning can already be felt in government ministries, local authorities, and the third sector, which longs for government budgets.
This house too, all parts of it, must find a way to return quickly to respectful, decent, and ongoing discourse between Coalition and Opposition, between Opposition and Coalition. In the course of this session, many complicated issues will make their way to the Knesset Plenary. Fight for your beliefs, with determination and passion. This is your duty as elected representatives and as envoys to this house. But even within the frenzy of debate, do not forget: matter-of-fact arguments—yes. Legitimacy for thuggery—no.
The Israeli public is looking at you and listening to you, for better and for worse. The daily confrontations in this house, the style, the vulgarity—this is what our children, the youth of Israel, are seeing, and they are our future. For each and every one of us, in words and in deeds, has an influence on the face of our State of Israel. The choices that each and every one of us make every day shape their tomorrow. And all we have is the power of our personal example to have an influence, calm things down, change direction.
Therefore, I call on you: choose anew, every day, to speak. Choose to engage in a respectful and respectable, proper and fair dialogue, even if it is assertive. As the President of the United States, a friend of Israel, our friend Joe Biden said: 'Not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.' This is true at points of consensus and is all the more relevant at points of discord, as painful and ferocious as they may be.
I call on you, Members of Knesset, to choose anew, every day, the Israeli value mamlakhtiyut—of dignity. As President, I shall do everything to strengthen the foundations of dignity and stop the perpetual erosion of our national resilience, which is turning into a strategic threat to the potency and wellbeing of Israeli society. This value of mamlakhtiyut, which is the glue holding us together as a community, as a people, and as a state, is alive and well. Mamlakhtiyut, which empowers us and compels us to see beyond our particular groups or sectors, to see the common good, to care about others. When we allow ourselves to trample over it—we defeat ourselves.
Therefore, I call on you, Members of Knesset, to draw clear red lines for public discourse. To conduct your debates about substance. To stop manifestations of discord, to be guides, to give value, to be role models. To show that it is possible to find a path, as the poet Zelda wrote, to 'that hidden spring called dialogue.' This task falls on all of us. This process of tikkun, of reform, falls on all of us. It can happen. It must happen.
This public institution debates the most difficult problems of the weakest groups in Israeli society, addresses the complex challenges of the State of Israel’s challenges from without and growing violence within, and seals the fate of citizens with a raising of a finger: like that of Moshe Elmaliah and his friends. Like that of the members of Israel’s Olympic delegation at the Tokyo Games, and the Israeli delegation at the Paralympic Games, who are here with us today. They are champions of willpower, who gave us all immense comfort and pride. Like that of around two million Israeli citizens, Arab men and women, who only want to live normal, quiet lives. To leave home in the morning and return in the evening in peace. This is their fundamental right. This is the most basic obligation of a state to its citizens—all across the State of Israel.
Since the start of the year, around one hundred innocent civilians have been murdered in violent events in Arab society. Around one hundred human beings, who were born in the image of God, as we read in this week’s parsha, Bereshit, just a few days ago. Human beings like me. Like you. Whole worlds, destroyed in an instant. Dealing with violence in Arab society is an important and supremely urgent national task, and I am sure that there is wall-to-wall agreement here on this issue. We must not get accustomed to murders and assassinations, and certainly not make our peace with a daily reality of crippling civilian terror. This is an emergency, which compels all of us to work together with determination and to eliminate this violence. As the poet says, “And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
And as if to prove the ability of violence to spread like wildfire, a few weeks ago another red line was crossed, when a member of this house, my friend, Meir Porush MK, left for morning prayers and was attacked in the street near his home, when unknown attackers assaulted him and tried to cut his beard. An unconscionable scene.
Members of Knesset, violence unfortunately does not pass by any group among us. It is blind to the differences between us. Incidents in which citizens feel comfortable taking the law into their own hands and attacking innocents are on the increase, they are infectious, and they are dangerous. Therefore, we have no other way but to stand firm against this violence together, and to speak out in a loud and clear voice. We must do everything to guarantee personal security, social order, and the existence of uncompromising, unbiased rule of law. These are not only the most important organizational principles of the State of Israel; they are a basic condition for the existence of our country.
Members of Knesset, since I entered office, I have met, and I shall continue to meet, the leaders of the factions in this house and many of its members, the leaders of the state’s institutions and public systems, religious leaders and others. Each and every one of them has a slightly different perspective on reality, of the sort that stems, quite naturally, from their particular areas of responsibility. But the emerging picture comes together like in a kaleidoscope, seeking to advance our common Israeli good. Naturally, there are many changes that must be done, in every system. There are fateful decisions that must be made. In the interface between the state’s authorities and institutions—there is no other path but dialogue, a persistent, businesslike, and enlightened process of institutional reform and strengthening the checks and balances between governing authorities in Israel. There is no way to do this in one fell swoop.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, when you go down the stairs from the Plenary to the Government floor, I invite you to stop by the painting by Joseph Kuzkovsky, a Ukrainian-born painter, who studied art in Kyiv. The painting, “Led to the Slaughter—Babi Yar” shows men, women, and children, walking in silence, in deathly darkness, the jackboots of the Nazi devil pointing their weapons at them, setting sharp-fanged dogs on them. In the middle is a woman, holding in one hand the hand of her young daughter, and in the other clutching her baby to her chest. Surrounded by parents and children, sisters and brothers, together, on their way to their terrifying death. In the many years that I have been visiting this house, I have passed by its walls thousands of times, often in a hurry. But in the case of this painting—time after time, I used to stop, if only for a second, take a breath, and look. I used to remember, as Ethics of the Fathers commands us, where I came from and where I was going, and I remembered where we came from and where we were going. Time and again, I showed this painting to foreign leaders during their visits here. And I used to tell them the story of the Babi Yar Massacre. Tomorrow, I shall depart as the President of the State of Israel, to represent you at the ceremony marking eighty years since that terrible massacre, a chapter that must be studied till the last generation. A chapter that must place the arguments between us in their proper proportions.
Mr. Speaker, Members of Knesset, I wish all of you a fruitful and effective Knesset session, a session in which citizens of Israel, hoping for stability, growth, and security, will find a source of pride and even hope. With you, I wish all citizens of Israel good health. I am happy that we are successfully leaving the fourth wave of COVID-19, and I call on all of you to continue getting vaccinated and to exercise caution, and to continue looking after yourselves and others. Together with you, and on behalf of all of you, I wish the Israeli public many days of peace and security. Together with you, I am praying for the wellbeing and safety of the soldiers of the IDF, officers of the Israel Police, and our security and rescue forces, and I send special reinforcements to medical, welfare, and education teams. Together with the whole public, I hope that this year, we will be able to say 'may our sons return to their borders'—Hadar Goldin, Oron Shaul, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed, and all of Israel’s MIAs. I want to wish a full recovery to all of the IDF’s injured and shellshocked and to all of Israel’s sick. A good year and health to all of us. A successful Knesset session to all of you."