President Herzog Calls For Unity: ‘Enemy Is Waiting For Us To Fight One Another’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — President Yitzchak Herzog referred in a special address to the Israeli nation on Sunday night to the heavy price of the fighting in the Gaza Strip. Herzog spoke after 14 names of soldiers killed over the weekend had been cleared for publication. He said that “this is a difficult evening. Each time we hear the words ‘cleared for publication’, our hearts shudder with renewed pain and grief. Behind the name of every fallen soldier in the fighting in Gaza, there is an Israeli hero. A member of a family. A parents’ son. A partner. A father. A brother. A grandson. A loved one’.”

Herzog noted that “at this time there is one imperative: and that is for unity, determination and mutual responsibility. We are in a war – not a war of choice, but a justified, correct and moral war. The justness of our path prevails over everything. Everything. The enemy is just waiting to see the cracks within us, for us to start fighting one another. They also see the conflicts, the arguments, the struggles between egos, the political conflicts – both in the days before, and in the days after. They celebrate when they see the cracks between us.”

Herzog’s remarks came shortly Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the war in Gaza in a statement on Sunday evening. “Citizens of Israel, we are intensifying the war in the Gaza Strip. We will continue to fight until absolute victory over Hamas. This is the only way to return our hostages, eliminate Hamas and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel. This will take time, but we are united – the soldiers, the people and the government,” Netanyahu said.
He added: We are united and determined to fight until the end. The war has a price, a very heavy price in the lives of our heroic soldiers, and we will do everything to safeguard the lives of our soldiers. However, there is one thing we will not do: We will not stop until we achieve victory.”

The prime minister’s wife, Sara Netanyahu, sent an official letter to Pope Francis on Thursday in which she asked for his help in efforts to return the hostages held in Gaza. In her letter, Netanyahu wrote: “Hamas is still holding 129 men, women and children hostage. Many of them are wounded and sick. They suffer from hunger, and some are denied the basic medicines they need to survive. Your Holiness, I ask for your personal intervention in this matter. Please use your influence to demand the unconditional release of all the hostages without delay. Please also call on the Red Cross to demand to visit all the hostages at once and deliver them vital medicine. So far the Red Cross has failed to insist on these deliverables. Your intervention could tilt the balance and save precious lives.”