At an international meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday about Holocaust commemoration, Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged governments worldwide to help free the hostages in Gaza from “genocidal, jihadist” Hamas, as he termed the terrorist group.
Herzog spoke at a meeting of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an international task force of dozens of countries.
The gathering, hosted by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, brought together ministers, diplomats, academics and community leaders from across IHRA member states.
Herzog opened his remarks by marking a grim milestone—600 days since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attack and the ongoing captivity of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
“Even as we gather here, the first and foremost victims of hatred remain out there in Gaza, held in Hamas dungeons—a horrific crime against humanity,” Herzog said. “We cannot be silent while this crime continues. I call upon every person here to keep raising their voices until every single one of the hostages is back home.”
“We are dealing with a genocidal, jihadist organization,” Herzog said of Hamas. He cautioned that internal divisions among allied nations are often misinterpreted by adversaries as weakness.
“When they see criticism—even from states like Canada, Australia, Britain, or France—they sometimes immediately hail that criticism, without understanding that we all share the same vision: combating terror, combating antisemitism, and demanding the immediate release of our hostages,” he said. “The international community must show a united front, saying first and foremost: get the Israeli hostages out.”
The leaders of France, the U.K. and Canada recently threatened unspecified action to pressure Israel into halting its push to dismantle Hamas and retrieve its hostages in Gaza. Israel is fighting disputed allegations of “genocide” against Palestinians at the International Criminal Court.
Herzog also emphasized Israel’s efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and pointed to logistical failures within international institutions.
“Four hundred trucks full of food are currently sitting on the Gaza side of the border because the United Nations is refusing to distribute them. I urge the international community to adamantly demand that this aid be distributed immediately,” he said.
Herzog also addressed the rise in global antisemitism since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, in which thousands of its terrorists murdered some 1,200 people in Israel and abducted another 251. This act plunged the region into war, and the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing campaign in Gaza to dismantle Hamas.
“Antisemitism is a poison that ravages what is best in our human societies and empowers what is worst,” he said.
Herzog rejected attempts to disguise antisemitic rhetoric as anti-Israel or anti-Zionist sentiment. “Denying the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in its own sovereign nation-state is antisemitism, pure and simple,” he stated. The IHRA working definition of antisemitism lists this denial as an example of antisemitism, among others.
“History has taught us that when a fanatic regime calls for genocide against the Jews, it must be taken seriously,” Herzog said.
He also called for action against Iran, denouncing its nuclear ambitions and support for global terror networks. “The antisemitic Iranian regime must never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons capability, and its worldwide terror networks and proxies must be dismantled,” said Herzog.
