Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged newly elected Knesset factions to work toward a stable government and avoid another election as he accepted the European Jewish Congress’s highest honor in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night.
Herzog urged party leaders to come to the President’s Residence in Jerusalem with “an open mind and an open heart.”
EJC President Moshe Kantor presented Herzog with the Golden Vision Award at a gala dinner marking the organization’s 40th anniversary. The Nov. 3 event at the Sheraton Grand Tel Aviv brought together Jewish community leaders from Europe and beyond, as well as representatives of Jewish and Israeli organizations.
Coalition consultations
Herzog said he would receive the official results of the Oct. 27 election on Wednesday from Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and then begin consultations with the factions elected to the Knesset. Neither of the two main political blocs secured the 61 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.
“The State of Israel is precious to every one of us,” Herzog said, urging the factions to listen to one another and approach the talks with goodwill.
“The government of Israel is not a zero-sum game between winners and losers,” Herzog added. “We have to find the right mechanisms to have a stable government and not to vote for further elections.”
He said the next government would have to make difficult decisions, take responsibility for the safety and well-being of Israel’s citizens and the Jewish world, and defend the values of the free world.
Defending Jewish life in Europe
Herzog praised the EJC for its four decades of work on behalf of European Jewry.
“For 40 years now, the European Jewish Congress has been very clear about what it stands for,” he said. “You, dear friends, have stood against hatred and division, against what our enemies seek. You have stood against antisemitism, against a viral ancient poison that erodes what is best in our human societies.”
Herzog said European Jewish history could not be separated from that of the continent itself.
“For centuries, Jewish thinkers, scientists, artists, visionaries have helped shape the intellectual, cultural and moral inheritance of Europe,” he said.
Speaking ahead of the Nov. 9-10 anniversary of Kristallnacht, Herzog said attempts to isolate or boycott Israel represented antisemitism and alienation from Europe’s own heritage.
“These are troubling times for Jewish communities in Europe, and the ancient poison is finding new legitimacy, including under the guise of political criticism of Israel,” he said.
Herzog called on European governments and institutions to recognize that defending Jewish communities was about more than protecting a minority.
“Europe must recognize that protecting Jewish life is not merely a commitment to a vulnerable minority; it is a commitment to the very values upon which free and democratic societies are built,” he said.
“Israel is not Europe’s enemy. Indeed, we are Europe’s partners,” Herzog added. “We’re allies, and our security, and our freedom, and our futures are deeply connected.”
Herzog thanked Kantor for his work defending Jewish communities in Europe and elsewhere and for his support for Israel.
“Moshe Kantor is a very important Jewish leader and a very important Jewish voice, and I’m always impressed by his commitment to defending and protecting Jewish communities in Europe, all over the world, and in Israel,” Herzog said.
He also singled out Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, for her years of work fighting antisemitism in Europe. Von Schnurbein was also honored with an EJC award at the gala.
‘A remarkable story of triumph’
The Israeli president welcomed freed Gaza hostage and violinist Agam Berger, who performed for the delegates at the gala.
“Agam is a remarkable story of triumph,” Herzog said. “She was a hostage in Gaza, and she is here expressing her incredible artistic capabilities.”
Berger, an Israel Defense Forces field observer who was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Nahal Oz outpost during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, was released on Jan. 30, 2025, after 482 days in captivity.
Herzog also spoke about Voice of the People, his initiative to develop the next generation of Jewish leaders. He said about 10,000 candidates were vying for places in its next cohort.
“I want to see more and more members of communities from all over, from Asia, from Europe and other places,” he said.
The privilege of serving
Kantor drew a parallel between the Israelites’ 40 years in the wilderness and what he described as the EJC’s four-decade journey from Paris to Brussels. Both journeys, he joked, worked out to an average speed of less than a meter an hour.
“Geography has never been our greatest obstacle,” Kantor said.
Kantor recalled a conversation his grandfather had recounted with Jewish leader Nahum Goldmann. As Kantor told it, Goldmann believed a Jewish leader’s greatest reward was “the privilege of doing for his people what he believes is right, and seeing them happy and proud of it.”
Kantor said he had struggled with that idea as a young man.
“In a world that had lived through the Second World War and the Holocaust, I found it inconceivable that service to one’s own people might go unacknowledged,” he said. “Today, 60 years later, I can say Nahum was right.”
Presenting the award, Kantor said Herzog had demonstrated “how much can be achieved by someone whose sense of responsibility reaches far beyond his formal duties.”
“What you have done for Israel over the past five years and continue to do today has exceeded even the highest expectations,” Kantor told the Israeli president.
Turning to Herzog’s support for European Jews, he added, “Through these years of profound hardship, you have given us more care and support than we hoped for.”
Herzog closed by thanking the EJC and pledging to continue standing alongside it in service of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. He explained that he had to leave the gala immediately after speaking because of the political duty awaiting him.
“So, why do I have to leave this wonderful event as soon as I finish? Because, as you know, tomorrow I have a small task,” he said, referring to receiving the official election results and beginning consultations with the Knesset factions over the formation of the next government.
