The following are key passages from President Isaac Herzog's inaugural address upon being sworn in as Israel's 11th president on July 7, 2021
I stand before you today, humbled and excited, accepting your trust with respect, members of the Knesset, and the heavy responsibility of serving as the eleventh president of the State of Israel.
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I would like to begin by thanking the 10th president of the state, Reuven Rivlin, for your service and significant and long-standing contribution to our people and country. During your presidency, you lost your beloved wife Nechama, and there are no words that could comfort this pain.
Ruvi, you knew how to infuse the wonders of this land, and its sons and daughters, with your love; you represented our country among the family of nations with great honor, until your very last month in office; you painfully identify the fragmented pieces of Israeli society; you put a mirror in front of us, even if what we saw did not always please us.
My dear friend, thank you for the good pieces of advice you have given me, throughout our long years of friendship, especially in the last few weeks ever since I was elected [as president]. Thank you for the President's Residence, which was a true home for all Israeli citizens, no matter their background, religious belief, gender or age. I wish you good health, success and happiness from your family.
I would like to wish success to the 36th government of Israel, to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, to Prime Minister-designate and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and all coalition members. I have no doubt that every person in Israel wishes for you to succeed in the great challenges that the State of Israel faces, and if required, to stand firm against our enemies. There are many debates in Israel that are not simple – this is the beauty of democracy. I am sure that all of us would like you to succeed, which would be an accomplishment for the entire State of Israel.
I also wish success to Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, and all members of the Opposition. There is no democracy without opposition. The political reality has more than once required me to serve in that role and I am confident that you will serve the people via the opposition – with dignity, responsibility and focus.
I am proud of Israeli democracy and the way the new government took office three weeks ago. Just like the rest of the Israeli public, I too wish for stability, prosperity and security, which will bring good days for all of us.
I pray for the safety and security of the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, of Israeli police officers, and security and rescue forces, and would like to express support to the medical, welfare and educators.
I pray, together with the rest of Israel, for the return of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, our sons who fought for the defense of our homeland and never returned, the time has come for them to return home, and Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, Israeli citizens who are being held captive.
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you with deep gratitude, on behalf of myself and my wife Michal, to you and to many Israelis who filled our hearts with congratulations and wishes of success. Citizens – from those in kindergarten all the way to national heroes – have sharply and clearly expressed to me their expectations, from me, and from all of us – to lower the tone, reduce the flames and show restraint.
Israel's citizens, I would like to say: You are my mission. It is with your expectations, hopes and dreams that I set out to fulfill my task every day, to be everyone's president.
Words such as democracy, nobility, independent judiciary are big words that cannot be reduced to slogans. That's why the underlying foundation that keeps us together is agreement – we are destined to be together. I am embarking on a journey among the rifts and divisions among society, in order to feel people's pains and concerns, as I have done throughout my public life. Everyone has his or her story and I will never prejudge someone because of his background.
The wounds of our society are still bleeding. We must acknowledge that some have been left behind without a proper opportunity. Ignoring this won't be of any help, and as a democracy, we have to integrate all minorities. We must do everything in order to shatter glass ceilings and reduce the inequalities.
But before we do all this we have to work together. A homeland cannot be conquered and bought, it has to be earned with sweat, David Ben-Gurion said. And I will add: It must be preserved with sweat. That is exactly what I will do, this is our responsibility, the mission of our generation. This is my mission as president – to do everything I can to rebuild hope.
To our friends around the world and chiefly among them the United States, I say from here, the State of Israel stands with you in this international effort to confront the great and complex challenges facing humanity, including the pandemic that struck the world and is still with us; the technology that is rapidly developing and must be properly channeled toward human development and achievements rather than hatred and incitement, and the climate crisis that has forced all of us to wake up and change our habits. You can consider Israel part of all these endeavors.
I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust in me and ask God, using the words written by my grandfather, to "provide peace to this land and never-ending joy to its people."
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