Israeli President Herzog calls Australia’s announcement ‘a reward to terror’

Responding  on Monday to the announcement by Australia’s Prime Minister Albanese that it would recognize a Palestinian state in September, Israel President Issac Herzog said such a move would be seen as a reward to terror and would in no way help the Palestinian people or the hostages being brutally held by Hamas in Gaza.

President Issac Herzog. (Screenshot)

President Herzog, whose father Chaim, z’l,  was also an Israeli president from 1983 to 1993, mused about what his father and the early settlers of the Jewish State might have thought about such an announcement.

“I wonder what the Knesset members in those days for example, would have said about the Australian Prime Minister’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state,” he began.

“I have no doubt what Ben-Gurion and Begin, who were on opposite sides of the aisle, would have said together, and I too say here emphatically to the whole world: Israel has always strived, and will always strive, for peace with our neighbours including the Palestinians. When Israel fights cruel terror, it does so for the sake of peace and for the sake of the free world.”

Herzog added: “These declarations, by Australia and other countries, are a reward for terror, a prize for the enemies of freedom, liberty, and democracy. This is a grave and dangerous mistake, which will not help a single Palestinian and sadly will not bring back a single hostage.”