Israeli President warns of ‘great existential threat’ to Jewish people

Jewish people face a “great existential threat” which “comes from within,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog warned at a World Jewish Congress event in Jerusalem last week. 

Herzog attended the “Jewish Leadership Bridge” event, which gathered over 120 distinguished Jewish leaders from 50 countries as well as a group of more than one hundred young Israelis.

“We are gradually losing points of contact with one another, losing our connection to the binding story that keeps us whole as one nation. Alienation and polarisation are casting a very real shadow which can endanger our future,” Herzog warned.

“The Jewish people throughout the globe — our Jewish diaspora — have contributed immensely to this nation building project that is Israel,” he added.

The President also mentioned his launching of the “Voice of the People Initiative, the President’s Initiative for Worldwide Jewish Dialogue,” which he in Hebrews is called “Kol Ha’am Siach Yehudi Olami.”

The initiative focus on “finding points of commonality between Jewish communities. It is designed to be a platform where we can convene together as a people to hear each other, to plan together, to engage and to strategise on all of the major issues affecting our people,” Herzog said.

“And I believe it holds great potential to mark a new stage in the evolution of the global Jewish conversation,” he concluded.

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder echoed Herzog’s call for unity, saying: “Amid challenging times for the Jewish people worldwide, and in Israel, it is more important than ever that we recognise what unites us as a people.”

“I thank President Herzog for his dedicated leadership in working to bridge divides between our communities so that we may be able to stand stronger together for years to come,” Lauder said.