Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Wednesday to deepen national unity in Israel, in a pre-recorded statement published shortly before the start of the Tisha B’av fast — the Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the Jerusalem temples and other calamities.

“On the eve of Tisha B’Av, we remember the destruction of the Temple,” he said in a video statement. “We remember the terrible price of hatred and division among ourselves.”

“Over the past three years, through our combined efforts, we prevented the destruction of the Third Temple,” he said, referring to the Jewish state.

“Instead of a civil war, we became brothers fighting shoulder-to-shoulder to repel those who seek our destruction,” the prime minister continued. “We joined forces, fought like lions, and together saved Israel.”

Netanyahu, whose government has spent the last four years passing numerous pieces of deeply divisive legislation, has made several appeals to public unity as his reelection campaign has ramped up in recent weeks, and promised last month to build a “broad national government” after the election in October.

In the same breath, however, he acknowledged that any such coalition would exclude Arab and Arab-majority parties, and disparaged any government that considers including them as “left-wing.”

The premier’s remarks about “brothers fighting shoulder-to-shoulder” also failed to reflect the current reality in Israel in which ultra-Orthodox men, by and large, do not serve in the military despite dire manpower shortages. Netanyahu’s government last week passed two contentious laws designed to maintain that broad exclusion, one of which — banning the arrests and prosecution of ultra-Orthodox draft dodgers — was frozen by the High Court of Justice.

בערב תשעה באב אנחנו זוכרים את חורבן הבית. אנחנו זוכרים את המחיר הנורא של השנאות והחרמות בתוכנו. Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } בשלוש השנים האחרונות, בכוחות משותפים, מנענו את חורבן הבית השלישי. במקום מלחמת אחים, היינו לאחים שנלחמים שכם אל שכם כדי להדוף את מבקשי נפשנו.איחדנו כוחות, לחמנו כאריותויחד הצלנו את… pic.twitter.com/JzEqn41Wu2 — Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 22, 2026

בערב תשעה באב אנחנו זוכרים את חורבן הבית. אנחנו זוכרים את המחיר הנורא של השנאות והחרמות בתוכנו.

בשלוש השנים האחרונות, בכוחות משותפים, מנענו את חורבן הבית השלישי.

במקום מלחמת אחים, היינו לאחים שנלחמים שכם אל שכם כדי להדוף את........

© The Times of Israel