Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Michael Herzog calls for Israel to ‘reflect deeply’ on mistakes surrounding Oct. 7

Connecting the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on the themes and traditions of the Jewish High Holiday season, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said the Israeli people need to “reflect deeply” to understand how the Hamas attack happened.

“There is an internal logic to this cycle, because during these holidays, we first do a big soul searching, where we went wrong and to understand what mistakes we made,” Herzog said speaking at an atypically somber Rosh Hashanah ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. “Definitely, we as a people need to reflect deeply on what happened, what went wrong that allowed Oct. 7 to happen. Then we repent our mistakes. Then we commit to learn from our mistakes and correct our path.”

He said that path will ultimately lead to a brighter “new beginning.”

Herzog described the current war as Israel’s “longest and toughest” since its war for independence, adding that Israel is fighting both Hamas and an “international campaign to deny the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and to deny the Jewish state its right to self-defense.”

The Israeli ambassador also gave thanks “from the bottom of my heart [to] the U.S. administration, Congress — on both sides of the aisle — and the American people for their unbelievable support.”

Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology,  vowed that the administration “will continue to support Israel as she seeks to defend herself. And indeed as Israel faces threats from Iran and Iranian proxies, the Israelis should know that Biden and the broader biden administration have their back.”

Neuberger said that President Joe Biden is committed to securing the release of the remaining 101 hostages and returning tens of thousands of residents of northern Israel to their homes. 

She also spoke about the meaning of High Holiday traditions in the context of the Oct. 7 attacks and the ongoing war.

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, addressed the audience, emphasizing that the Oct. 7 attacks and ongoing attacks by Hezbollah are grounded in antisemitism. She said that the international community’s response to the sexual violence committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 also reflects antisemitism.

“The human rights organizations, the feminist organizations failed miserably,” she said. “Or, they succeeded in showing their antisemitism.”

Lipstadt highlighted the antisemitic threats at home, making specific reference to attacks on Jewish students at the University of Michigan as they’ve left Jewish institutions on campus.

She noted that the students had come together to create their own security program because they had “lost faith in the ability — not the willingness, but the ability, of the local authorities to protect them.”

She said that such incidents show how antisemitism erodes faith in democracy both in its perpetrators and in its victims. She also described antisemitism as a national security threat that can destabilize countries.

Zioness founder Amanda Berman emceed the event, which featured songs and prayers from D.C.-area rabbis and cantors. Food served at the event included Israeli vegetables, sabich and chicken pita sandwiches, with several choices of sauce, and basbousa cake, malabi and fresh mint tea for dessert. The wine served at the event came from wineries in northern Israel impacted by Hezbollah’s attacks.

Each chair in the auditorium also featured a card explaining that the Embassy and the Jewish National Fund would plant trees in Israel in honor of lives lost since Oct. 7.