Herzog pledges to ‘calm things’ as Israel’s 11th president

FILE - In this March 27, 2017 file photo, Isaac Herzog, speaks at the AIPAC Policy Conference 2017 in Washington. Israel's parliament is set to inaugurate Herzog, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, as the nation's president, a largely ceremonial position whose purpose is to forge national unity and serve as the country's moral compass. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File) FILE - In this March 27, 2017 file photo, Isaac Herzog, speaks at the AIPAC Policy Conference 2017 in Washington. Israel's parliament is set to inaugurate Herzog, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, as the nation's president, a largely ceremonial position whose purpose is to forge national unity and serve as the country's moral compass. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

By ILAN BEN ZION and LAURIE KELLMAN / Associated Press July 7, 2021 3 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) – Isaac Herzog pledged to heal deep divisions in Israeli society Wednesday as he took the oath of office to become Israel’s 11th president.

With one hand on a Bible before the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – Herzog, 60, assumed the largely ceremonial position that is designed to serve as the country’s moral compass.

Herzog promised to be “the president of everyone,” adding that the “central expectation” of all Israelis “from me, from all of us, is to lower the tone, to lower the flames, to calm things down.”

“My mission, the mission of my term, is to do everything in order to rebuild hope,” he said in his inauguration speech.

Herzog takes office after a tumultuous period in which Israel went through four deadlocked elections in just two years.