{"id":284347,"date":"2026-02-10T19:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/284347\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T19:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:03:07","slug":"isaac-herzog-to-australian-jews-dont-be-afraid-stand-proud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/284347\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac Herzog to Australian Jews: ‘Don\u2019t be afraid, stand proud’"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Isaac Herzog<\/a> had a simple message to Australia\u2019s Jews on Tuesday, as anti-Israel protests rocked the city of Sydney during the second day of his Australian visit<\/a>: “Stay proud, Jewish, and Zionist.”<\/p>\n

The message was delivered at two public events: the first in the morning at Moriah College to hundreds of flag-waving Am Yisrael Chai students, and the second in the evening at Chabad of Bondi, which lost a number of members – including its assistant rabbi, Eli Schlanger – in the December 14 terrorist attack on the first night of Channukah at the beach just down the road.<\/p>\n

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was at the evening event at Chabad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terrorists sought to instill fear in the Jewish people – we will respond with renewed Jewish pride,\u201d Herzog said. \u201cThey sought to divide our people with religious hate – we will respond with solidarity between all people of moral conscience of all faiths.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sought to turn our festivals into mourning – we will come together determined and unified, to celebrate our traditions, our heritage, our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Isaac Herzog during his visit to Australia. (credit: Ma’ayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n

Albanese, who stood next to Herzog in front of the open ark in the sanctuary in the Chabad center, as a prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel was recited in Hebrew, did not address the gathering, but solemnly read out the names of the 15 killed. A number of them were members of the Chabad synagogue, and seats were left empty in the packed room in their honor.<\/p>\n

Australian PM Albanese during Herzog’s visit to Chabad<\/p>\n

One attendee at the ceremony speculated that Albanese did not speak at the event because of concern over how his words would be received. The Australian prime minister entered the hall alongside Herzog<\/a> to warm applause. The two are scheduled to hold a formal meeting in Canberra on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

While Albanese did not speak at the Chabad event, in parliament, he addressed the violent protests that have greeted Herzog\u2019s visit and the criticism he has faced, including from within his own party, for inviting Herzog to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Australia, we can disagree peacefully and with respect,\u201d he said. \u201cI will treat President Herzog with respect. I\u2019ve known him for a long period of time. He is someone with whom you can have a respectful discussion while examining the differences that exist. But he is here primarily to provide comfort for people who not only need it, but deserve it at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese stressed that he will not \u201cwalk away from my support for his presence here, because it is appropriate that he be here at this time. And it\u2019s appropriate that people understand the context, which is there: a community that is hurting, a community that is reaching out and just asking for some understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albanese said it was time to \u201cturn the temperature down\u201d and that Australians do not want \u201cthe conflict to be brought here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herzog, speaking at Moriah College, said that the demonstrators are not representative of the silent majority of Australians who want to see ties with Israel return to what they once were.<\/p>\n

Before taking questions from students in the upper grades, the President and his wife, Michal, were greeted by hundreds of grade school children waving Israeli flags to the sound of Am Yisrael Chai over the loudspeakers.<\/p>\n

Addressing the current state of Israeli-Australian relations, Herzog recalled his 2008 visit to the country, when he was met warmly by both sides of the aisle in parliament – a time of deep bipartisan support for Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly something has happened in the last generation, and it has set in deep, and it has to be met,\u201d he said, referring to Israel\u2019s current standing in the country.<\/p>\n

Herzog said he was well aware that the \u201cdemonstrators and protesters who are cursing us, saying the biggest lies and defamation against our nation,\u201d are not going to listen. But, he said, \u201cI believe that in the silent majority of Australians, there are many who definitely want to hear,\u201d and to move the ties back to what they once were.<\/p>\n

Herzog acknowledged the \u201cups and downs\u201d Israel has had with the current government, but said that one of the goals of his current visit is to put the relations \u201cback on track, upgrade them, and improve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herzog noted that the \u201chuge wave\u201d of global \u00a0antisemitism is something that \u201cwe never expected to see in Australia, which is also the land of the free, and was also a safe haven to so many Jews who had come under the most horrific of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

His recommendation to the students was the same as it was at the Chabad event: \u201cStand up, look them in the eye, don\u2019t be afraid,\u201d and be proud to be Jewish and Zionistic.<\/p>\n

Asked by a teacher who identified herself as a Lebanese Christian whether he could ever imagine a day of peace between Israel and Lebanon, Herzog replied: \u201cAbsolutely, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the majority of Lebanese would love to live in peace with us,\u201d he said. \u201cLebanon is a multicultural society, and I think now there is an opportunity, after Israel hit Hezbollah hard, that there is an opening for political change as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Isaac Herzog had a simple message to Australia\u2019s Jews on Tuesday, as anti-Israel protests rocked the city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[33147,972,85,2894,46,145828,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-284347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-anthony-albanese","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-isaac-herzog","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-israel-australia-relations","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}