Israel needs unity: Why Herzog must bring Netanyahu, Eisenkot together - opinion

OCTOBER 25, 2026 15:25I am a right-wing religious Zionist, an Ethiopian-born Israeli-American, and a father raising four children in Jerusalem, and I am frightened.Not because Israelis disagree, disagreement is part of democracy, but because our politics increasingly teaches us to hate one another more passionately than we love the country we share, while our enemies watch, our international standing collapses, and the wounds of October 7 remain open.I know where I stand politically. I believe in secure borders, Jewish sovereignty, and Israel’s unquestionable right to defend its citizens. Hamas must never again govern Gaza. Iran and its terrorist proxies must be deterred. The Jewish people cannot subcontract their survival.Right-wing and left-wing are equal owners of the same countryBut being right-wing does not require me to treat left-wing Israelis as enemies. Their children serve beside ours. They run into shelters when the sirens sound. They bury loved ones, pay taxes, and worry about the future of the same country. They are equal owners of it. The same is true in reverse.Supporting a change in government does not justify dismissing millions of traditional, religious, or conservative Israelis as primitive, dangerous, or morally inferior. Netanyahu’s voters will not disappear if he loses an election, just as his opponents will not disappear if he wins. Israel belongs to all of us.Election campaign billboards featuring Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party are displayed along a roadside in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, October 17, 2026 (credit: Sharon Leibel/Flash90)That truth should guide President Isaac Herzog after the election. Current polls show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party competing for leadership, while neither bloc appears certain to command the 61 Knesset seats needed to govern. Israel may awaken to another divided parliament and another invitation to paralysis. We cannot afford it.October 7 was not only a military and intelligence catastrophe. It was a warning about what happens when leaders become distracted by internal warfare, institutions lose public trust, and citizens begin viewing one another as threats. Hamas crossed a physical border after we had already allowed hatred to cross every political and social border within Israel.Our enemies study us. They hear our leaders call one another traitors, fascists, and enemies of democracy. They see clashes among secular, religious, right-wing, left-wing, Jewish and Arab citizens.They do not interpret our division as healthy democratic debate. They interpret it as weakness and wait for the next fracture.Israel’s diplomatic position is also in danger. The Jewish state is increasingly portrayed not as a democracy defending itself, but as the source of every regional crisis. Antisemitism and propaganda drive much of this campaign, but our poisonous politics makes it easier. A country that cannot speak respectfully to itself will struggle to speak persuasively to the world.This is why Herzog must become more than a ceremonial observer after the election. He cannot dictate a coalition, overturn the voters’ decision, or force rivals to trust one another. But he possesses something rare in Israeli public life: an office intended to represent the entire nation.Herzog should invite Netanyahu and Eisenkot to the president’s residence and keep bringing them back until they seriously consider a broad Zionist unity government.Not a government without disagreement. Not a government designed to rescue political careers. A government of limited national repair.Such a coalition should begin with a clear program: restore security and border readiness; establish an independent state commission to investigate the failures surrounding October 7; confront Iran and its proxies; rebuild Israel’s international diplomacy; reduce the cost of living; require meaningful military or national service across society while respecting genuine Torah scholarship; and protect every law-abiding citizen from terrorism, organized crime and political violence.It must also address Israel’s excluded communities. Ethiopian Israelis should not be remembered only during elections or cultural ceremonies. Arab citizens who reject terrorism and accept the laws of the state should not be treated as a permanent fifth column. Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) citizens should not be spoken about as if they are strangers to the Jewish future.Rights bring responsibilities, but responsibilities must also bring belonging. Unity does not mean moral confusion. Israel must distinguish democratic disagreement from support for its destruction.Leaders who excuse terrorism cannot be trusted with national security. But disagreement over courts, settlements, religion, or Gaza does not make an Israeli disloyal.Becoming protectorsRabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, taught that society is the home we build together. A home cannot survive when family members would rather burn it down than allow a rival to sit at the head of the table.Netanyahu has devoted much of his life to Israel’s security and international standing. Eisenkot served the country as a soldier, commander, and chief of staff, and he paid the unbearable price of losing family members in war.Each man represents citizens who love Israel. Each also carries responsibilities greater than his personal grievances. They do not have to admire one another. They do not have to erase their disagreements. They must decide whether their hatred and mistrust are more important than the country they both claim to serve.I made aliyah with my wife and four children shortly before October 7 because I believe in Israel, not merely as a refuge, but as the shared moral project of the Jewish people. I did not bring my children home so they could inherit a nation divided into tribes that no longer recognize one another.The next October 7 must never happen. Preventing it will require weapons, intelligence, and secure borders. It will also require Israelis to become protectors of one another again.Herzog, bring Netanyahu and Eisenkot to the same table. Ask them to place Israel above ego, party, and personal history. The election will determine who wins seats. Leadership will be measured by whether they can save the house we all share.The writer is a former New York City Supreme Court detective, an investigator and educator in conflict resolution and restorative peace, and a moral diplomacy expert. His upcoming book, Moral Diplomacy for a Broken World, is inspired by the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.Follow us on Google