President Isaac Herzog sent a message to be broadcast a special rally held at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv entitled ‘United for Their Return’ on the eve of Tisha B’Av on Monday.
In his remarks, the President said: "O Zion, weep bitterly for thy children. We recite this beautiful and sad lamentation every year as part of the Tisha B’Av service."
"But this year," Herzog stated, "on the eve of Tisha B’Av 5784, as we mark together thousands of years since the destruction of the Temple, we also mark ten months of pain since that terrible wound inflicted upon us by our enemies with monstrous cruelty, on the morning of Simchat Torah, it seems that even the lamentations suddenly take on a different meaning."
"As if they were written from the very heart of the current Israeli reality, from our aching, worrying, yearning, and anxious hearts for our sisters and brothers, women and men, children and the elderly, parents and infants, who are still in the tunnels of Hamas. Their cries must be heard in every corner of the globe."
"Last Tisha B’Av, the winds of division and separation were blowing everywhere, threatening to ignite a war between us within our own home. The winds of incitement, violence, and outbursts almost brought ruin upon this beloved house, almost set brother against brother," he continued.
Unity to bring hostages home
"Therefore, I appreciate this gathering," he stated further, "which in its entirety is an appeal for brotherhood and mending the tears we stand here together. We lament the terrible fractures: the fractures of the past of destruction and exile, and the fractures of the present of the many fallen and the hostages"
"We mourn together, embrace together, and cry out together for the immediate release of our brothers and sisters from the darkness of captivity, from the horrors in Gaza, from the hands of a cruel enemy. Tonight, we cry out together, bring them home!"
Herzog concluded with praise to the protestors and a call for unity in the fight to return the hostages.
"I reiterate: I will support any deal that brings our captives home and maintains our security interests. I pledge on behalf of all of us that we will continue to cry out, fight, and leave no stone unturned until every one of our loved ones returns home, until we heal and repair, rebuild, and renew all that was broken in us and for us," he added.
"To conclude, I would like to address the tense and complex days we are in after Iran and all our enemies on the axis of evil have declared their intention to attack us with great force soon. I emphasize that the State of Israel is prepared to face this multi-front threat," the President stated.
"As a nation, we are all in trying times, and it is important that we stand and succeed together, in partnership, in brotherhood and out of love for Israel. In the words of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook: ‘If we were destroyed and the world with us by baseless hatred, we will yet be rebuilt and the world with us by baseless love.’”