JERUSALEM, Israel | Israeli President Isaac Herzog is making Jewish peoplehood and the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry central priorities for the final years of his presidency.
Herzog, who has roughly two years remaining in his seven-year term, identified three principal areas of focus: diplomacy, strengthening ties across the Jewish world, and helping heal the deep divisions within Israeli society.
The emphasis on Diaspora Jewry is particularly significant at a time when Jewish communities across North America, Europe, Australia and elsewhere continue to confront heightened antisemitism and security concerns following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack against Israel.
Herzog intends to increase his engagement with Jewish communities abroad that have faced those pressures, making Jewish communal resilience and Israel-Diaspora relations a more prominent part of the final phase of his presidency.
Jewish Peoplehood Takes Center Stage
The focus is a natural continuation of Herzogโs career.
Before becoming Israelโs president in 2021, Herzog served as chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, where strengthening connections between Israel and Jewish communities abroad was one of his principal responsibilities.
That background gives additional weight to his decision to make Jewish peoplehood one of his final presidential priorities.
The issue has become more urgent since Oct. 7.
Jewish communities around the world have faced increased security requirements at synagogues, schools and community centers, while public debates over Israel have increasingly spilled into campuses, workplaces, cultural institutions and the streets.
For Herzog, those developments make the relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry more than a ceremonial connection.
It has become a question of Jewish resilience.
Antisemitism Abroad Becomes an Israeli Concern
Herzogโs planned outreach reflects a broader recognition in Israel that the security and well-being of Jewish communities abroad cannot be separated entirely from events affecting the Jewish state.
Since Oct. 7, antisemitism has become a major concern for Jewish communities internationally.
Synagogues and Jewish schools have increased security. Jewish students have reported hostility connected to Israel and Zionism. Public figures have faced pressure over their Jewish or Israeli identities.
Herzogโs decision to devote additional presidential attention to those communities signals that Jerusalem treats their experiences as strategically important.
His approach is not limited to responding to individual incidents.
It also reinforces the idea of a shared Jewish people across national borders.
Diplomacy Remains a Major Focus
Herzog also intends to continue using the presidency as an important diplomatic platform.
Although Israelโs presidency is largely ceremonial, the office carries considerable international influence.
Herzog has used overseas visits, meetings with foreign leaders and public diplomacy to represent Israel during some of the most difficult years in the countryโs recent history.
His diplomatic agenda is expected to include strengthening existing partnerships and pursuing opportunities for further regional cooperation.
A recent visit to Cyprus illustrated that approach, with Herzog discussing regional security, stability and cooperation with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.
Israel continues to face significant diplomatic challenges involving Europe, Iran, regional security and international pressure surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Herzogโs role allows him to engage foreign leaders from a position that is often less partisan than that of government ministers.
Healing Israelโs Internal Divisions
The third pillar of Herzogโs agenda is domestic unity.
Israel entered Oct. 7 after months of profound political and social division over judicial reform.
Although the Hamas attack and subsequent war temporarily produced a stronger sense of national solidarity, many of the underlying divisions remain.
Disputes over military service, religion and state, judicial power, politics and Israelโs future direction continue to strain Israeli society.
Herzog has repeatedly attempted to position the presidency as a bridge between competing sectors of the population.
The Jerusalem Post recently described him as a steady national figure during years shaped by war, political upheaval and social crisis.
His remaining time in office will therefore be partly devoted to preserving national cohesion while Israel continues to deal with the consequences of several years of conflict.
A Presidency Shaped by Crisis
Herzogโs term has unfolded during an extraordinary period in Israeli history.
He entered office in July 2021.
Since then, Israel has experienced political instability, an intense constitutional dispute, the Oct. 7 massacre, prolonged warfare and growing international pressure.
Herzog has spent considerable time visiting communities affected by Hamas and Hezbollah attacks and meeting survivors, bereaved families and displaced Israelis.
Those experiences have increasingly shaped his public emphasis on unity and resilience.
The same themes now extend outward to Jewish communities abroad.
Israel and the Diaspora as One Jewish People
Herzogโs focus on Jewish peoplehood carries a broader message.
Israel and Diaspora Jewry face different challenges, but the pressures increasingly intersect.
Israel faces military threats, political polarization, and diplomatic challenges.
Diaspora Jews confront antisemitism, questions of physical security and increasingly contentious debates over Israel and Zionism.
Herzogโs approach treats those realities as connected.
That perspective is deeply rooted in his own family history.
His father, Chaim Herzog, served as Israelโs sixth president and previously represented the country at the United Nations.
His grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog, served as chief rabbi of Ireland before becoming Israelโs first Ashkenazi chief rabbi.
Herzog himself moved from Israeli politics to the Jewish Agency and then to the presidency.
His career has therefore repeatedly centered on the relationship between Israel, world Jewry and Jewish identity.
A Clear Agenda for the Final Years
The final phase of Herzogโs presidency now has a defined structure.
Diplomacy will focus on Israelโs international position.
National healing will focus on Israeli society’s resilience.
Jewish peoplehood will focus on the millions of Jews living beyond Israelโs borders.
For Diaspora communities, that third priority could prove especially important.
By increasing presidential engagement with Jews confronting antisemitism abroad, Herzog is elevating their concerns to the highest symbolic level of the Israeli state.
The message is clear: the security, identity, and resilience of Diaspora Jewry are not peripheral to Israel.
They are part of the Jewish people’s shared future.
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