‘Don’t destroy our home’ – Israel’s president marks Memorial Day by warning of rising political ‘hatred’ and polarization in Israel

Amid ongoing controversies regarding the Netanyahu government, the Attorney General, the resignation of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and allegations of Supreme Court overreach, Israel’s president warns divisions could tear the country apart.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel’s president warned Tuesday that the widening political divide in Israel and polarization exacerbated by a series of high-profile controversies threatened to tear the country apart, calling for unity as the war in Gaza rages on, nearing its 19th month.

Speaking at a ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Tuesday evening to mark the beginning of Israeli Memorial Day, President Isaac Herzog, flanked by Defense Minister Katz, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, senior IDF leadership, called for the return of the remaining 59 hostages held in Gaza, and called on Israelis to rally in unity and avoid worsening political division.

“This year, perhaps more than ever, the siren’s sound is also a true alarm, commanding us: unite and come together. Do not tear apart from within. Do not destroy our home,” Herzog said following the traditional sounding of the Memorial Day siren at 8:00 p.m.

“I call out to our brothers and sisters in the hands of murderers: A whole nation is missing you, worrying for you, crying your cry. A nation tormented beyond measure. A nation that knows—deep in its soul, burned with longing and anxiety—that the wound cannot heal until you return.”

Herzog also lamented the growing political tensions within Israel, and warned that if they were not kept in check the country’s very existence could be in peril.

“Enough division! Enough polarization! Enough hatred! We must not, by our own hands, bring about the destruction of our national home—the home of all Israelis, the home of the entire Jewish people.”

The president ended his remarks with a plea to safeguard Israel’s unity and democratic foundations, and a blessing for the hostages, the wounded, and Israel’s security forces.

“On this sacred day, in this sacred place, we also bear a sacred duty: To recommit ourselves to the brave, shared Israeli covenant… to rise above divisions, and to transform this moment of pain into a moment of shared rebuilding.”