דברי הנשיא בערב הגאלה השנתי של UJIA

Forty years ago, in November 1985 I stood before the UJIA young leadership, and effectively launched my career in public service. The young leadership at the time was made up of strapping young lads like Keith Black and Daniel Levy who are here with us tonight, and they don't look a day older than 65. At the time, I was a 25 year old newlywed with big ideas And a familiar surname. For me, it was a first. But for the UJIA, a distinguished organization in the annals of British Jewry, Herzogs were to a penny. My great grandfather, Rabbi Shmuell Yitzhak Hillman was Av Beth Din, head of the Jewish Rabbinic Courts of Great Britain in East London at the end of the 19th Century. It was in his home that his daughter Sarah spilled a tray of tea over the man who would later become her husband one young rabbi, Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Herzog. Rabbi Herzog grew up in Paris and Leeds, two cities that could not be more similar, and studied at the Sorbonne and the University of London, just like his son, Chaim Herzog would many years later. 

Chaim Herzog, my late father, fought the Nazis as an officer in the British Army decades before becoming the sixth President of Israel. And the one who matched him to my mother was Abba Eban, a Cambridge Don who was an officer in the British Army in World War Two, and who became my uncle. In his memoir, “Living History”, my father recalled his official visit to the United Kingdom as president back in 1984. He described a lunch at Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, during which the Queen tossed biscuits to her corgis. During that same lunch, my mother Aura spoke of the history of our family, which allegedly descended from King David. To this, Queen Elizabeth smiled and said that she too was supposed to be a descendant of King David. Without missing a beat, my mom responded, “welcome to the family!” 

On that UK visit back in 1984 I had the privilege of accompanying my late father and mother to a magnificent UJIA Gala emceed by our dear and good friend Trevor Chin. We love Trevor, and together we all mourn the loss of his beloved wife, Lady Susan, and we send our condolences from here. 

So you understand, in many ways, the British strain of Judaism molded my family's history and deeply impacted my own Jewish identity. Of course, you all know Michal, my much better half, who represented the British based Wohl Foundation for 13 years. Michal and I are delighted to join you here tonight, and I feel quite privileged to follow in my ancestral footsteps and honor this brilliant community. 

I also take this opportunity to bid farewell to Israel's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Tzipi Hotovely, who's been a loyal emissary of the State of Israel during these tumultuous times. She's just completing her five year service Yashir Koach.     

Friends, I underscore my British connection because so often the link between Israeli Jewry and Diaspora Jewry seems lopsided. There's an inherent asymmetry in the relationship. Israel is the focus world Jewry lends support — not opinions, not suggestions, just support. And in coming here today, I want to clearly express in deeds and in words that I do not subscribe to this imbalance. To me, it is clear that you are all worthy of being heard and influential. Your perspectives are important, your voices count, your reservations are valid, and your extraordinary efforts on Israel's behalf are invaluable. I say this not because you need me to say so, rather, because my fellow Israelis need to hear it as well from me. 

I know that UK Jewry is at the forefront of the struggle with antisemitism. I know that the men and women in this hall and all around the United Kingdom face backlash on almost a daily basis because they are Jewish, because they are Zionists, because of Israel. And I know that at times, you have been assaulted and insulted, targeted due to your Jewish identity, or pressured to defend policies you may or may not endorse. And I know how closely you follow the developments in Israel, certainly in the wake of the horrific October 7 attack. And I know of your concerns over the harsh ramifications. I know there is great pain here as well. And yet, despite the pain, I've watched as you continue to stand up for Israel, and you continue to choose to actively engage. In the aftermath of October 7, you mobilized in a heartbeat. You showed up on our home fronts, which became battlefields, and stood up for Israel in every relevant forum. You spoke the truth about the depths of our heartbreak, about the level of shock and anguish felt all over Israel and across the Jewish world. You travel to Israel to be together in our greatest hour of need, the way close friends and family come together, the way family cares for each other. So many of you have, in fact, sent children to Israel to fight alongside our own sons and daughters, and I know I've met and spoken to many of you. You have showed up for Israel in advocacy, philanthropy and solidarity. On behalf of a scarred, yet ever resilient Israeli people, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. In fact, Michal and I inaugurated the school year in Israel on October, on September 1 in Kiryat Shmona. We went to Danziger High School, 1200 pupils opened the school year. A year ago, they were scattered in 400 towns and villages. This time, they came way above ninety-five percent back to school. And what struck me was a huge, huge sign of UJIA in the main hall. So I thank you for that as well. As President of the State of Israel, I applaud the UJIA for what you have succeeded in building together, and I'm so very proud of this glorious Jewish community in Britain. 

Dear friends, sisters and brothers, nearly two years have gone by since hundreds of Israelis with dehumanized and mutilated, assaulted and taken hostage. Nearly 2000 of our sisters and brothers have been killed. Michal and I have visited and met with over 1300 bereaved families, and we meet them every day. We are clawing our way out of the war of seven fronts. We cannot properly exhale whilst our hostages are in the dungeons of Hamas. And we will stop at nothing to bring our people home. Every single one of them.  Lianne, Noiya and Yael Sharabi, were murdered, as you know, in Be’eri on October 7. Eli Sharabi returned from Gaza after 491 days of captivity. You met him here. His brother Yossi was taken hostage, killed, and his body is still in Gaza. Lianne's brother Steven Brisley from Bristol, wrote the following beautiful words, and I quote, “Be’eri will rise though broken, though scarred, its future held gently by strong hearts that guard”. Make no mistakes, my dear friends, the scope of our longing is comparable only to the depth of our resilience. 

In Operation Rising Lion in Iran, in the pagers operation in Lebanon, in the downfall of Hezbollah, in the killing of arch-terrorists such as Sinwar and Deif in Gaza, we experienced the courage, the ingenuity and the discipline of our nation. We reminded ourselves once again of the inner-strength we possess. In a few moments, you will hear and witness a living, breathing miracle. Emily Damari. You will be moved as much as I am whenever I meet Emily. She moved me to my core when she told me upon her return, that during her terrible captivity, she heard me speak to the nation and drew strength and solace from it. How profoundly moving it is to see Emily here tonight accompanied by her brother Tom, their Uncle Rob, their incredible mother, Mandy who is a great hero. Truly, Mandy is one of the greatest heroines, we saw it. And as Emily shares indisputable, irrefutable truths, bear in mind that hearing from a survivor is the only way to fully comprehend the reality which we are faced with. 

It is the ultimate response to the hate-filled demonstrators outside, and to the antisemitic and anti Israel propaganda which is flooding the streets and the media in England. Because the anti-Israel hatred and the extremism that we see on the streets of London or elsewhere, threatening and intimidating, is the same extremism that generates poor editorial decisions, broadcasts egregious lies, and airs blood libels from a hostile prejudiced media. This is the antisemitism that you all marched to protest just this Sunday, proudly declaring “enough is enough”. We know about this incredible protest despite the fact that the BBC ignored it. So I can tell you, for example, a fact that the BBC or others ignore, eighty percent of the Gazan people, the Palestinians in Gaza, would want Hamas out. There is an enormous amount of video and interviews of Gazans who are telling us – the Israelis – get rid of them. 

Israel is fighting a war that was forced upon us. We did not seek that war. A war that we did not want at all. We recognize that mistakes can happen. We know how to investigate. We know how to apologize when appropriate. We don't shy away from the fact that the people of Gaza are in pain, and I care. But as the President of the State of Israel, I'm privy to the broadest range of intelligence and information on a daily basis, perhaps an hourly basis, and I want to make clear, my clear, unequivocal position, there is no genocide in Gaza, and there is no famine in Gaza. Any contrary claims are absolutely false. Lest we forget, Hamas violently seized control of Gaza, turning it into a base of terror to destroy Israel. Thousands of rockets launchers were concealed within homes, living rooms, bedrooms, nurseries, mosques and so forth. Civilian structures were replaced by horror-tunnels and shafts, and in these frightful tunnels, 48 of our brothers and sister are held in the worst conditions. Today, as was mentioned, is September 11. Twenty-four years ago, jihadist extremism plummeted into the Twin Towers in New York — the same jihadist extremism that butchered and raped and burned to death Israelis on October 7. The same extremism that invited the savage massacre of our brothers in the Syrian Druze community. The same extremism that led gunmen to open fire on a bus in Jerusalem, killing six civilians, innocent, on their day's work and wounding dozens, some of whom Michal and I visited few days ago in Shaare Zedek Hospital. 

We have the full right to defend ourselves. By combating the barbarism of Hamas and the genocidal aspirations of Iran, Israel is defending not only itself, Israel is fighting on behalf of the entire free world, on behalf of all peace loving nations, on behalf of Europe, on behalf of the United Kingdom. 

In my meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Starmer and today with Opposition Leader Badenoch, I reiterated that terror and peace cannot coexist. Terror undermines any possibility of a future of peace. And I insisted with Prime Minister Starmer and Foreign Secretary Cooper, that if the entire free world were to stand up to Hamas unequivocally, and condemn the abhorrent terrorists and firmly demand our hostages release, otherwise we don't talk to you, the hostages may have come back already long ago.

I also told the Prime Minister that recognizing a Palestinian state on the back of Hamas’s crusade of terror will send the wrong message to the world, which is: terror pays. And I would expect Israel's allies to act with the same moral clarity and prevent a grave mistake, and show that the basic decency they demand of Israel, we demand from them. 

I also do not deflect or hide, and you guys know it so well, debates and disagreements within Israeli society proper. But I told all my hosts in the past two days, that just like in the United Kingdom, Israel itself is also simply a democracy with the broadest range of viewpoints and diversified opinions. The year 2026 will be an election year in Israel, and I have confidence in the course Israelis will chart for their own future, and I demand the same from our allies and friends. 

So dear friends, in a week and a half, we will welcome a Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Some of us will tear up while harmonizing with the sacred tunes our parents taught us for Avinu Malkeinu or the u’Netaneh Tokek prayer. Some of us, will shudder at the sound of the shofar blowing. Some of us will dip apples in honey, wishing the coming year to be ever so sweet. Let's pray for that. All of us will pray for our hostages to come back home, every single one of them, as soon as possible. We pray for a hostage deal as soon as humanly possible. We will all pray for the war to end. For our wounded to heal: mind, body and soul. We will pray for our evacuees to rebuild their communities. For our bereaved families to find some comfort and solace. And for our sons and daughters to stay safe and sound. We will pray to finally begin the epilogue of the horror story that we have lived since October 7. And we will pray to sit down together, Israeli Jewry and world Jewry, and write the new chapter of our collective Jewish story. This will be the story we will tell our children. A story of compassion, of diversity, of democracy, of humanity, of justice. A story of Jewish values, of unity. A story of heroism and loss and hope. Together, we will write a great story. And together, may we all be inscribed in the Book of Life. And may the nation of Israel be inscribed in the Book of Life. And may we see our sons and daughter coming back home as soon as possible. I conclude by blessing you all with a Shana Tova Umetuka, to you and all of your loved ones. Thank you very much.