This letter, initiated by the Zionist Federation of Australia and United Israel Appeal Australia, will be handed in person to Israeli President Isaac Herzog later this month. This is your opportunity to join members of the Australian Jewish community, as well as its friends and allies in expressing your personal support and solidarity with the people of Israel.

Dear President Herzog,

We, members of the Australian Jewish community, our friends and allies stand with you and with the people of Israel.

We stand against terror and against Hamas

We condemn Hamas and deplore its bloodlust and mission of genocide.

We stand against its decree to annihilate the State of Israel and massacre Jews around the world.

We decry the carnage, devastation and barbarity and insist that Hamas be held accountable.

We mourn the loss of innocent civilians

We cry for the massacred Israelis and foreign nationals, and the lives of Palestinians used as human shields and cannon fodder for Hamas.

We are crestfallen by their loss.

We call for the return of all hostages

We call for the unconditional, safe return of the children, disabled, elderly and all others kidnapped from Israel into Gaza.

Their kidnap is a war crime and a crime against humanity.

We stand with the IDF

We stand with the soldiers protecting Israel and its citizens.

The IDF’s objective to dismantle Hamas and remove it from power in Gaza is a strategic and moral imperative and the only way to achieve sustainable peace for the Israeli and Palestinian people.

We stand with the people of Israel

We stand with those who have suffered unspeakable tragedy but continue to show humanity, compassion and resilience.

We grieve with the people of Israel whose loved ones have been murdered, maimed or are missing and embrace all who carry the scars of trauma inflicted by Hamas’s terrorism and the war it has caused.

We stand with the State of Israel and our shared values of humanity, democracy and the right to live in peace. We always have, and we always will.

To conclude with a prayer from Chapter 126 of Tehillim.

We are as if we were in a dream. May G-d return those who have been captured like the streams in the Negev. May we, who are sowing our seeds as we cry, reap the harvest with joy. 

היינו כחולמים. שובה ה׳ את שביתנו (שבויותינו) כאפיקים בנגב. הזרעים בדמעה ברנה יקצורו 

Over 6300 people have already signed this letter!