Over 500 rabbis, diplomats, Jewish diaspora leaders urge Israeli opposition to form Jewish-Arab coalition

Linda Dayan reports in Haaretz on 6 November 2026:

Over 500 leading figures from across the Jewish Diaspora, including rabbis, community leaders, professors and former diplomats, signed an open letter published Thursday, urging the heads of Israel’s opposition parties to unite to replace the current government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Addressed to the heads of all the Jewish and Arab parties not aligned with the Netanyahu bloc, the signatories wrote that “Our goal is to encourage all of you to work together to build a coalition for change that will serve Israel, Diaspora Jewry and relations between us.”

In the letter, they highlighted how events that unfolded since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 have “emphasized how everything that impacts Israel profoundly impacts Jews around the world and vice versa.”

The letter referenced how policies and statements by members of this government “eroded Israel’s standing in the community of democratic nations, including with the United States,” and have strained relations between Israel and Diaspora Jews.

The signatories also wrote that “as Jews who live as minorities and rely on the safeguards provided to us by liberal democratic norms, the last government’s incitement against Israel’s Arab citizens and its delegitimization of political partnership was anathema and harmful to us as well as to Israel. We believe this must now change.”

The letter was published on the eve of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog culminating a round of consultations with party factions, which ended with Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot securing the recommendations of 67 of the 120 elected Knesset members, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recommended by 46 elected lawmakers.

According to custom, if a candidate is recommended by at least 61 elected Knesset members, the president tasks him with forming a government. If no candidate receives 61 recommendations, the president will task the candidate whom he believes has the greatest chance of succeeding in forming a government.

The letter was initiated by the London Initiative, a network founded in 2024 by British-South African Jewish businessman Sir Mick Davis, a former chief executive of the U.K. Conservative Party; and its CEO Mike Prashker, a British-Israeli educator and a prominent activist for shared Jewish-Arab society initiatives.

The London Initiative was founded “in response to growing threats to Israeli democracy, deepening internal divisions and the deterioration of relations between Israel and much of world Jewry,” according to its website. In March, it initiated a letter urging Israeli President Isaac Herzog to use his authority to end “the abomination of Jewish-extremist terror and the era of impunity for its perpetrators.”

Thursday’s letter called on Israeli opposition leaders to “begin the process of repair by forming a coalition in keeping with the vision set out by Israel’s founders in the Declaration of Independence,” and to form a coalition committed to equal rights, renewing “the pursuit of secure peace” with the Palestinians and “honestly acknowledging that true security and peace are interdependent,” strengthening bonds with Diaspora Jewry and building bilateral relations with their governments “in ways that are beneficial for Israel, our own countries and our Jewish communities.”

It also rejected the prospect of a unity government under Netanyahu, which would see the moderate opposition parties – like Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, Naftali Bennett’s Together and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu – joining forces with the prime minister. Such an arrangement has not worked in the past, and “will not be able to govern effectively and lead the changes that Israel and the Diaspora need.”

Signatories include former British Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Canadian Associate Health Minister Ya’ara Saks, former Australian Aboriginal Affairs and Education Minister Prof. Peter Baume, former Canadian Ambassador to Israel Jon Allen and former British Ambassador Matthew Gould.

The letter was also signed by Dr. John Ruskay, former executive vice president of UJA-Federation of New York; Ismar Schorsch, chancellor emeritus of the Jewish Theological Seminary and a leading figure in Conservative Judaism; and Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street.

Dozens of professors also signed on, as did rabbis from various Jewish streams.

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