Ruhama, the mother of fallen IDF soldier Sergeant Major (res.) Yossi Hershkovitz, shocked by the recent displays of hostility at the protests in Jerusalem, decided to take her plea for unity directly to the President.
“I was on the bus home and decided to get off and go to the President's residence. The worst that could happen was that they wouldn't let me in. I was feeling very determined at the time, because my son's message had always been one of unity,” she told Arutz Sheva - Israel National News.
Ruhama says she felt something was changing as soon as she spoke to the guards at the President’s door. “There was an extraordinary spirit there. As the President and First Lady are gentle and caring, so too are their staff. I said yesterday that the only thing they didn't do for me was bring out a red carpet. The guards came to me with refreshments, took my ID, and told me that although the President was very busy today, they would pass on the message. The guard went in and a short while later, First Lady Michal Herzog and the President’s chief of staff emerged. She embraced and kissed me, and then we went inside. I felt like Queen Esther when she came to the king without having been summoned. (Esther 5:2).”
The President himself later arrived, and Ruhama presented her request that he take up the cause of national unity. He asked that she do the same thing, and use her status as a bereaved mother to raise the public’s awareness of the issue.
“It was important to him that I be heard as well. I have therefore decided that despite my tendency not to give interviews, I will cry out to Israel to unite, to become one nation. This is not the time for fighting,” Ruhama declared.
She also noted that Hamas and Hezbollah have in the past expressed happiness at internal divides in Israel.