Posted on 08/12/24
President Isaac Herzog this evening, Monday, sent a message on the eve of Tisha B’Av, to be broadcast a special rally held at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv entitled ‘United for Their Return’.
In his remarks, the President said:
“‘O’ Zion, weep bitterly for thy children,’ We recite this beautiful and sad lamentation every year as part of the Tisha B’Av service.
But this year, on the eve of Tisha B’Av 5784, as we mark together thousands of years since the destruction of the Temple, we also mark ten months of pain since that terrible wound inflicted upon us by our enemies with monstrous cruelty—on the morning of Simchat Torah—it seems that even the lamentations suddenly take on different meaning. As if they were written from the very heart of the current Israeli reality, from our aching, worrying, yearning, and anxious hearts for our sisters and brothers—women and men, children and the elderly, parents and infants—who are still in the tunnels of Hamas. Their cries must be heard in every corner of the globe.
‘All the light has long gone, don’t you leave too. Come, mother, come sit with me for a while.’ These words were written more than fifty years ago by Leah Naor, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nahal Oz—whose beloved, dear, and brave people ‘built their home at the gates of Gaza, to be a wall for us’—as it was said. Words one cannot read these days without them shaking us and crying out to us—about families that are still torn to shreds, about communities that are fragmented and divided, about an entire nation with a gaping hole in its heart.
Last Tisha B’Av, the winds of division and separation were blowing everywhere, threatening to ignite a war between us, within our own home. The winds of incitement, violence, and outbursts almost brought ruin upon this beloved house, almost set brother against brother.
I watch with great concern as these dangerous winds of division return to us even now, threatening our unity, our existence as one people in one state.
Therefore, I appreciate this gathering, which in its entirety is an appeal for brotherhood and mending the tears—we stand here together. We lament the terrible fractures: the fractures of the past—of destruction and exile, and the fractures of the present—of the many fallen and the hostages.
We mourn together, embrace together, and cry out together for the immediate release of our brothers and sisters from the darkness of captivity, from the horrors in Gaza, from the hands of a cruel enemy. Tonight, we cry out together—bring them home!
I bless your shared call—my sisters and brothers—to advance the efforts and to take determined, united, and brave action to free the hostages; and our shared hope—that the upcoming summit this Thursday will bring good news that will return our sisters and brothers. It will not be easy, and it will not be simple. But the voices of our brothers’ blood cry out to us from the dungeons of Gaza—the living and the dead, civilians and soldiers. We must not break the most sacred bond between us—to bring each and every one of them back to our homeland.
The duty of a state to its citizens is first and foremost to bring them home from the enemy. With creativity, determination, courage, initiative, and with all fully committed.
I reiterate: I will support any deal that brings our captives home and maintains our security interests. I pledge on behalf of all of us that we will continue to cry out, fight, and leave no stone unturned: until every one of our loved ones returns home, until we heal and repair, rebuild, and renew all that was been broken in us and for us.
To conclude, I would like to address the tense and complex days we are in, after Iran and all our enemies in the axis of evil have declared their intention to attack us with great force soon. I emphasize: The State of Israel is prepared to face this multi-front threat. We have top-tier military capabilities. We have an air force and advanced multi-dimensional defense systems that are on high alert and ready. We have thorough intelligence. We have emergency and rescue systems, and a home front more prepared than ever before. We have diplomatic and security alliances and partnerships committed to thwarting any enemy action. Foremost among them, the strongest power in the world—the United States—which is committed to our security.
However, these defense capabilities do not guarantee absolute protection. Therefore, the home front also has a significant role in maintaining national resilience. We must act responsibly, follow instructions, remain calm, and, of course, not hesitate to seek support—even emotional. It is important and appropriate.
As a nation, we are all in trying times—and it is important that we stand and succeed together, in partnership, in brotherhood and out of love for Israel. In the words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook: ‘If we were destroyed and the world with us by baseless hatred, we will yet be rebuilt and the world with us by baseless love.’”