Israel’s internal political divisions have a profound impact on Diaspora Jewry, President Isaac Herzog warned during post-election consultations this week, urging political leaders to adopt a less hostile and more inclusive tone.
Herzog raised the issue on two consecutive days during his consultations with factions elected to the 26th Knesset over whom he should task with forming Israel’s next government.
During consultations with Yisrael Beiteinu at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday night, Herzog said Israel’s political discourse was being closely watched by Jews around the world.
“We haven’t spoken about the Jewish people until now. I know you deal with this,” Herzog said. “In the end, every word that goes out from here has a dramatic impact on our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora.
“And I ask myself whether the time has come for us to project something a little less hostile among ourselves, and more open and embracing, also with a view to the possibility of aliyah,” he added.
‘Everything we do here affects the Jewish world’
Herzog returned to the issue on Thursday night during consultations with representatives of Yashar, the party led by Gadi Eisenkot.
“We receive a great many inquiries from Jews in the Diaspora,” Herzog said. “Everything we do here affects the Jewish world, and it is an issue that does not come up enough in public discourse.”
The fact that Herzog raised the subject during two separate faction meetings placed Israel-Diaspora relations within the broader discussion over the political direction of the country following the Oct. 27 election.
Herzog concluded the two-day consultation process on Thursday. Factions representing 67 MKs recommended Eisenkot to form the government, while 46 backed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. United Torah Judaism, with seven seats, declined to recommend either candidate.
Herzog said he would task an MK with forming a government on Sunday, while stressing that the recommendation tally did not necessarily determine who could assemble a governing coalition.
Voice of the People
Herzog’s comments come as he has increasingly emphasized ties between Israel and Jewish communities abroad.
In 2023, the president initiated Voice of the People, a global Jewish leadership network bringing together participants from Israel, the United States and other Diaspora communities to address issues including Jewish cohesion, antisemitism and challenges facing the Jewish world.
The network recently received 2,500 applications for its second cohort, more than twice the number that applied for its inaugural cycle. Its 150-member council is divided equally among Israel, the United States and the rest of the Jewish Diaspora.
The first cycle concluded at a conference in Budapest last month attended by Herzog. Twenty initiatives emerged from the inaugural cohort.
Speaking at the conference, Herzog said the initiative was deliberately designed to bring people outside established Jewish communal structures into leadership roles.
“We wanted to see people outside the system who go in and take a leadership role,” he said.
His remarks during this week’s political consultations brought the same concern into Israel’s post-election debate: that decisions made and words spoken in Jerusalem reverberate throughout Jewish communities around the world.
