A moderate’s manifesto voiced on Kneset floor

Click here to read Tehila Friedman’s remarks.

An Israeli political tradition is the “maiden speech,” the first time a member of the Knesset addresses fellow lawmakers. The maiden speech is usually treated as a sort of acceptance speech, where lawmakers talk about what brought them to the Knesset and thank their families and mentors.

So when Tehila Friedman turned the tradition on its head last week, delivering what she said “might very well also be my closing speech,” Israelis sat up and listened.

Friedman, a small and soft-spoken woman who had not garnered much attention since entering the Knesset this summer as part of the Blue and White coalition, delivered a fiery call for “a principled center” at a time when Israel is riven by political polarization.

A Hebrew version of the speech has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, and a version with English subtitles released late last week is now also circulating widely.

Without mentioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any other contemporary politician by name, Friedman indicted a “trying to win” ethos that has caused Israel to have three elections in the last year and a half.

During her 11-minute speech that referenced Jewish history, Friedman exhorted Israelis to consider the lesson of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai, who led the Jews of Jerusalem to safety and, ultimately, continued existence after the destruction of the Second Temple. —With JTA