Social Cohesion: Grieving Families Push for National Unity Plan
A group formed by families of the fallen is asking the next government to treat deep societal division as a threat to be addressed immediately.
By Tyler Khalil ·
As the country prepares for its upcoming elections, a group of bereaved families is urging leaders to focus on healing internal divisions with the same urgency used for national defense. Hamechane, a coalition of families of those killed in the Israel-Gaza War, captivity survivors, and the wounded, is calling for a national framework on social cohesion to be established within the first 100 days of the next government taking office. The initiative seeks to move beyond political rhetoric and create a structure for citizens to live together despite deep disagreements.
The group includes Hoda Daxa, whose husband, Col. Ehsan Daxa, was killed in northern Gaza in October 2024, and Shai Zohar, the uncle of Capt. Omer Neutra, a soldier from New York whose body was returned from Gaza in November 2025. They spoke alongside Moshe Shapiro, whose son Aner died on October 7, 2023, while throwing grenades back out of a roadside shelter to protect fellow festival-goers. Shapiro is advocating for a culture of mutual respect to become a standard expectation in society, rather than an occasional occurrence.
Shapiro points to the national wildflower campaign from the 1960s as a blueprint for how the country can change its behavior. He notes that the campaign paired legal protections with public education until protecting those flowers became a shared value for generations of children. He believes that learning to treat others with respect, even when you disagree with them, can become just as ingrained in the national character. He stated that he is not asking people to sacrifice their lives, but rather to listen and make room for others.
Shai Zohar identifies internal polarization as the greatest existential threat facing the nation, arguing that divisions prior to October 7 contributed to the catastrophe. He views unity as an operating system for the state, noting that Israel has already paid an immense price for its absence. He admitted that he did not fully grasp the impact of the 2018 Nation-State Law on the Druze community until hearing Hoda Daxa speak about it, saying that the implications of the law had previously gone over his head.
The 2018 Nation-State Law reserves national self-determination for the Jewish people and defines Hebrew as the state language. While the High Court upheld the law in 2021 as compatible with equality protections, critics argue it fails to provide an explicit guarantee of equality for other communities. Hoda Daxa, who is Druze, emphasized that unity cannot mean solidarity among Jews alone. She stressed that many people want to be part of Israeli society and contribute to it, and that recognizing polarization as a national danger would be a necessary first step.
Shapiro described a yearlong effort to build a shared vision among religious and secular Jews, haredim, Druze, and individuals from both the Right and the Left. He stated that no one in the group had to hide their views to participate, calling the result the true face of Israeli society. He recalled his grandfather, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, urging Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to bring opposition parties into the government before the Six Day War. The government was subsequently widened in June 1967 to include opposition figures.
The memory of his son’s words remains close to Shapiro’s heart. Aner had previously written on social media that there really is no them, criticizing the divisions between religious, secular, right-wing, and left-wing. Shapiro noted that during the shiva for his son, he felt such divisions were fading, and he now expresses disappointment at their return. He hopes to see measures taken against online activity that inflames hatred among citizens.
Hamechane plans to encourage personal connections within schools, workplaces, and communities to foster this environment of understanding. The group intends to leave the specific structure of any future body to elected officials and professionals, focusing instead on the goal of creating a national responsibility for social cohesion. The members emphasize that disagreement does not cancel mutual obligations to one another.
