The altercation between Gur hassidim and the Israel Police on the night before Tisha B’Av was but one indication that the concept of Jewish unity is a myth handed down from generation to generation. Yes, there is unity within specific movements and organizations, but apparently not within the people as a whole.
President Isaac Herzog, in his address to the nation on Tuesday night, expressed his concerns about how rivalry is evolving into enmity prior to the Knesset elections.
“The elections are not a civil war,” he said.
Anyone watching television footage of the mass demonstration by the Gur hassidim may have reached a different conclusion.
They turned out in their multitudes because their leader, the “Gerer Rebbe” Yaakov Aryeh Alter, was present. Frail and advanced in age, he pledged to attend future demonstrations outside the prison where ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers are detained.
How many collective hours of Torah study will be forfeited by these demonstrations and further scuffles with the police?
Movements try to promote unity
But there are movements which act differently. One of them, Shira Banki’s Way, was founded by Jerusalemites Uri and Mika Banki in memory of their daughter Shira, a 16-year-old who was stabbed to death during a Gay Pride parade she was attending to support her friends, by a religious extremist on August 2, 2015. Shira Banki’s Way is dedicated to promoting mutual respect among people of differing beliefs and viewpoints.
Over the years, the movement has expanded beyond Jerusalem to include people of varying generations, religious and secular, and politically Left and Right. On Wednesday night, Tisha B’Av eve, hundreds of them gathered in the capital’s Zion Square, where they meet every Thursday evening to discuss how to repair the social evils that lurk within Israeli society.
On Wednesday, they were there to read the Book of Lamentations. Pamphlets with the text were distributed. The text was also displayed on a large screen and was read in accordance with varying traditions, by male and female readers. It was an extremely moving and inclusive service.
In February, the Jerusalem Municipality announced that it would be near the site where Shira was stabbed. No date has been set, and it may take a while as the area is rife with construction projects.
Speakers at the Tisha B’Av gathering included Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, MK Hilli Trooper, who has been associated with Shira Banki’s Way since its inception, and Uri Banki.
Alluding to the present situation in Israel, Lion queried how disagreement can evolve into enmity. He suggested that everyone emulate Shira’s example of letting people live their lives as they wished.
He noted that her death had led to a movement based on respecting the other. “Each of us has to ask ourselves what we can do to repair the world – not just talk about it, but do something every day,” he said.
Like so many speakers across the country that night, Trooper referred to October 7 – not in an accusatory tone but in reflecting on what has happened to Israeli society since then.
Trooper insisted that people of opposing views must learn to live together.
Shira’s father underscored that people who had attended her funeral, the public shiva in Zion Square, and the subsequent Thursday night gatherings disagreed with each other on many issues, but they came, they met together, and they listened to each other.
For almost a decade, foreign governments have been gradually moving their embassies to Jerusalem or opening new ones in the capital. The most recent is Nauru, as announced earlier this week.
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Nauru have long existed, but there had never been a Nauru embassy in Israel nor an Israeli embassy in Nauru. ‘
In April 2025, Herzog accepted the credentials of the ambassador of Nauru – and in February this year of Nauru’s. The first-ever resident ambassador of Fiji to Israel is Jesoni Vitusagavulu. Nauru has not yet announced who its resident ambassador will be, but it’s possible that Lara Erab Daniel, the first and non-resident ambassador of Nauru to Israel, will be chosen for the post.
Meanwhile, Maya Yaron, Israel’s first resident ambassador to Fiji, is also the non-resident ambassador to Nauru.
Yaron, in media interviews this week, when asked about the importance of such a tiny country as Nauru, replied that the vote in the United Nations by any member state is important, no matter how small that state may be. Nauru consistently votes with Israel.
Honorary consuls who often influence the decisions of foreign governments get little credit. In this case, it was Israeli radio entrepreneur David Ben-Basat, Nauru’s long-time honorary consul, who whispered in the right ears.
There is a move afoot to get all the Pacific island states to open embassies in Jerusalem.
Currently, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Nauru are the only ones. That leaves Micronesia and Tonga, not counting Australia and New Zealand.
Australia was among the first countries to recognize Israel and to establish diplomatic relations. Although it has moved its embassy to different locations in Tel Aviv, it is unlikely to move to Jerusalem. New Zealand, which represents Tonga in Israel, does not have an embassy here and operates out of Turkey. There’s little chance of change there.
Nauru is the 10th country to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Elsewhere on the diplomatic front, Herzog called Keiko Fujimara, Peru’s president-elect, to congratulate her on her victory. The two invited each other to visit their respective countries.
Herzog, who loves to travel, was happy to accept, but it’s not certain that he will be able to do so within the remaining time of his tenure.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jerusalem Post or its affiliates.
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