President Herzog addresses delegation of 180 young German leaders in Jerusalem

(Communicated by the President’s Spokesperson)

President Isaac Herzog today (Tuesday, 18 November 2025) welcomed a delegation of 180 young German leaders to Jerusalem from a range of fields, including media, culture, innovation, and civil society. During his remarks, President Herzog welcomed the adoption of the historic un security Council resolution proposed by the United States to implement President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

In his remarks, President Herzog said:

“I want to congratulate President Donald Trump for the incredible achievement that was achieved last night at the United Nations Security Council. It’s a very historic moment if you look at the trajectory of a war that was brutally launched against us on October 7th, two years ago, and with the heroism and bravery of our soldiers and our commitment to change the reality here so that this does not recur, and to rebuild Gaza and enable the people of Gaza to have a decent life. This resolution is a landmark because it speaks about the rehabilitation of Gaza and about an international force that will uproot the Hamas militants and their capabilities from Gaza. We can offer a future to the people of Gaza with international agencies and financial institutions. This is quite an incredible moment in world politics that could only have been carved out by President Trump, and of course, bringing back all our hostages. There are three bodies still in Gaza, and we want to see all of them back as soon as possible.”

The President stressed, “We have to have the vision of the day after, and we have to think about peace, and we have to seek peace in something that we believe in. And I think that President Trump has actually reignited the ability to think about it in a way which is more cautious and more careful and takes into account a lot of things, including the developments on the ground: how do we attend to the security needs of Israel, and what we do with Gaza, and what we do then with what is going on in the West Bank and things of this nature. One thing has to be clear: we have to make sure that there is no violence of any kind.”

“There has to be much more intensive dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, disregarding the political arena and disregarding a lot of the brainwashing that we see, for example, in the Palestinian media against Israelis. We have to enable a future of hope, and I hope this resolution of the Security Council, plus people-to-people activities and new initiatives which should lead, hopefully, to some sort of a positive outcome.”

President Herzog called on the international community to play its part in promoting a peaceful future of cooperation in the region. He said, “And I hope that Europe will move away from its old assumptions of how the situation looks, and the blame game against Israel. Say clearly and frankly to the Palestinian leadership and nation, and say: go for reforms, stop paying terrorists, stop encouraging the rhetoric that encourages terrorists, and let’s sit down and find new solutions to how we live together in the future, because we are all children of Abraham and Sarah.”

On the issue of rising anti-Jewish hatred around the world, the President said, “We are extremely disturbed by the rise of antisemitism. It’s a phenomena the world over. It’s the oldest disease of humanity and most dangerous after what you’ve seen and what you know. We know how it starts, and we all know how it can end. And all this starts with the Jews. It never ends with the Jews as well. What frightens me is that you see people are totally brainwashed in the demonstrations against Israel, and they link it, of course, with the Jewish communities. And then you have a huge rise and attacks on synagogues, on Jewish schools, on Jewish children. Look what happened in Manchester just two months ago. Nations have to operate strongly on all levels, law enforcement, adjudication, but most importantly, education.”