Herzog bids farewell to ‘dear friend’ Biden, wishes Trump success at JFNA speech
In first US visit since October 7, president addresses Jewish Federations’ General Assembly, praises Biden ahead of their meeting Tuesday, blames Iran for rising antisemitism
WASHINGTON, DC — In an address to the Jewish Federations’ General Assembly on Monday afternoon, President Isaac Herzog bade farewell to outgoing US President Joe Biden and congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in last week’s US presidential elections.
The Israeli head of state flew to the US for the first time since the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre to appear at the JFNA’s three-day confab in Washington, DC, where he spoke to a packed room of hundreds.
Herzog called the US president-elect a “champion of peace and cooperation” and told the crowd that he had wished him “every success in leading Israel and the Middle East toward a future of security and prosperity” in a conversation following the elections.
“We spoke of the urgent need to bring our hostages back home. President Trump reiterated his love for Israel,” he said.
Herzog also paid thanks to his “dear friend” US President Joe Biden for his “steadfast support from the very beginning of the war.”
He told the crowd that he plans to bid farewell to Biden in a meeting Tuesday morning. The two presidents are to discuss Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah and the outgoing administration’s last-minute efforts to broker ceasefire deals in both Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden will likely wage an uphill battle in his latest diplomatic push as world leaders look ahead to the incoming Trump administration. It is unclear how much leverage the departing US president still has following last week’s election results.
Biden has enjoyed a warm relationship with his Herzog since the latter began his term in 2021. Compared to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads an unprecedently right-wing government and made a habit of publicly opposing the American president, Herzog emerged as a more palatable face for the Jewish state.
He met Biden in July 2023, as well as in the wake of the October 7 attack over a year ago. Last month, the American commander-in-chief called Herzog to express his condolences on the first anniversary of Hamas’s massacre, but neglected to give Netanyahu a similar call.
Herzog will not be meeting the US president-elect on his trip, nor will be meet with his losing opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Invoking last week’s attack on Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, Herzog also voiced his concern about a “startling wave of antisemitism” that he said is “flooding the United States and the Jewish world.”
“The civilized world cannot tolerate a mob seeking out Jews, and we will not allow this to be normalized,” Herzog declared.
He assigned blame to Iran and its allies for contributing to the spread of anti-Jewish sentiment. Israeli authorities ruled out Iranian involvement in last week’s Amsterdam riots, though.
“For many years now we have seen the engine behind the modern-day antisemitism: the Iranian regime and its allies,” the president continued. “It is truly an empire of evil, spreading hatred through its numerous proxies, social networks and agents all over the globe.”
He stressed his support for Diaspora Jewry as the president of the Jewish nation-state, calling antisemitism a “struggle which we share and a challenge we face together.”
Herzog took that moment to tout his initiative “Kol Ha’Am” (Voice of the People), which he styled as a “global Jewish task force” that will tackle the most pressing issues facing world Jewry. The president revived the project this fall after putting it on hold in the immediate aftermath of October 7.
Voice of the People CEO Shirel Dagan-Levy, who accompanied Herzog to the US as part of his delegation, told The Times of Israel that the prospective task force will consist of 150 Jewish councilmembers from Israel, the US and the rest of the world.
Dagan-Levy hopes that the council will mend rifts within the global Jewish community, particularly between Israel and the Diaspora. “Every day that goes by, we realize that October 7 is way beyond the State of Israel,” she said.
Dagan-Levy noted the underwhelming turnout at Monday night’s rally, which kicked off this year’s General Assembly on Sunday, but insisted that the sparse crowd only entrenched her determination to strengthen Israel’s relationship to Jews worldwide.
Herzog’s visit was met by a few dozen pro-Palestinian protesters, who decried the Israeli president during a small demonstration outside the hotel hosting the General Assembly.
Before the president’s keynote speech, a panel of prominent American Jewish rabbis David Wolpe, Sharon Brous and Ari Berman discussed Jewish identity post-October 7.
Brous, who runs the non-denominational IKAR synagogue in Los Angeles, was met with a round of applause when she insisted on invoking Palestinians’ humanity during Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
“We’re called to love the stranger, and the stranger is defined as whoever is suffering the most in that moment, and frankly, that means to actually try to love and embrace the humanity of the Palestinian people, even in this moment,” Brous said.
Though Herzog’s speech marked the climax of this JFNA’s General Assembly this year, the convention will continue until Tuesday afternoon.
