President of the State Isaac Herzog addressed the knesset Plenum on Monday, in the opening sitting of the fourth session of the Twenty-Fifth Knesset. President Herzog said, “Look, I had a prepared speech, but this is a very important moment in our lives, and my heart is bleeding. My heart is bleeding, because there’s a difference between a principled debate, which is certainly legitimate, and contains legitimate opinions, versus lack of courtesy, harming human dignity, harming the dignity of the other branches of government, and harming the dignity of Israel’s judges.
“I will serve as a mouth for Israel’s judges, because in my opinion—when we bury today two heroic combatants, when we bury today a hostage who returned from captivity, when we visit the homes of bereaved families day after day, we cannot ignore [the direction] in which we are dragging ourselves as a nation, strangling each other and behaving with disrespect. I am not willing to accept a situation of lack of basic respect, as the people of Israel, instead of dealing with the truly important issues, deal with the question of whether the president of the Supreme Court will be invited or not, and under which title.
“And I say to you, Mr. President of the Supreme Court, that I welcome you. I want to say that the time has come to examine these issues in depth. If we are talking about striking down a law, it should certainly be determined what the rules for striking down a law are. Sit down and enact a Basic Law: legislation.
“But what does that have to do with basic lack of courtesy and breaking codes and traditions that have existed for decades? I demand of everyone to sit down and talk. Believe me, I have devoted hours and days—everyone knows it—to an attempt to reach understandings between these systems. And it is hellishly difficult, because each [side] has its imagined base.
“So I want to tell you, we are at a moment of trial, we are in an election year. We can behave with restraint, courtesy and responsibility, or we can continue to poke each other’s eyes out, while our combatants are in Gaza and their families are on the home front. So I am crying out to high heaven here, and saying to everyone, it’s enough,” said President Herzog.
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