Israel’s President Isaac Herzog issued an appeal to American Jewish community leaders this week in a video address to the Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly being held in Chicago.
Herzog urged US Jewish leadership to respect the results of Tuesday’s national elections in Israel even if those results “may or may not be to your liking.”
The statement came in the wake of multiple concerns expressed by American Jewish leaders – and the Biden Administration – that a win by Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would also mean ministerial appointments of Otzma Yehudit chairperson and MK Itamar Ben Gvir and Religious Zionism chairperson and MK Bezalel Smotrich.
“Dear friends, tomorrow Israelis will go out to vote,” Herzog said. “I know the frequency of elections in Israel is somewhat unnerving and I am aware of the questions posed in many Jewish communities around the world about the outcome of the elections.
“The results may or may not be to your liking, but the vote of the Israeli people should be respected,” he said. “Beyond this, I say to each and every one of you that the firm, vital connection between the State of Israel and North American Jewry will not, and should not, be compromised whatever the result.
“I never shy away from the fact that there are gaps between Israel and the Jewish communities abroad, and there is real work to be done,” he added.
“I have every confidence in the bonds we share, which run deeper than politics or shifting circumstances. We are all bigger than this.”
