Happy Birthday Israel!

In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles. –Ben-Gurion

Today is Israel’s 60th anniversary of Independence Day. Sixty years ago, Ben-Gurion and a group of pioneers together signed their name to the Declaration of the State of Israel. Among other things, the Declaration states:

“THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Has it kept its promises? Is Israel just and equal to all its inhabitants? What about the arsim, the Ethiopian immigrants who are greatly discriminated against in the school system and professional arena? The Russian immigrants who join gangs and push drugs? Does Israel really give religious freedom to all? Atheists have a hard time practicing in the Holy Land. The Israeli government has definitely not safeguarded the holy places of all religions, though perhaps that’s not its fault: Maarat Hamachpela is divided in half, Arab graves desecrate the side of the Temple Mount, and Har Zeitim is practically under siege. Women are pushed to the backs of government-owned buses in religious neighborhoods, and barred from holding prayer services at the kotel. IDF soldiers have killed Palestinian civilians during terrorist-targeting missions. The gay pride parade was cancelled last year due to fear of violence. Justice was not served when Sharon ran for PM on a basis of not giving away land at any cost and then tossed away Israelis’ homes without the referendum that the country was screaming for. The government members have suffered an embarrassing barrage of personal scandals this past year.

Yet, with all this (u’vchol zot… do you hear me G-d?) Israel is doing wonderfully for a country only sixty years out of the shell. It is a refuge for Jews from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, France, Morocco, etc. It is trying to iron out the kinks of a secular government running a religious country. Women have it better in Israel than anywhere else in the Middle East: they are free to vote, work, and wear what they will, and the speaker of parliament, president of the supreme court, and foreign minister are all female. Israeli soldiers follow a fifteen-step process before even being allowed to load their guns when they are in an area with civilians. Homosexuals from Arab countries and from Nablus and the West Bank flee to Israel for safety. Young Israelis fired with passionate idealism and love for the country are working even now to resurrect integrity in Israeli politics.

Tomorrow in Israel, families will pack the parks and grassy lawns with their mangalim (grills). There will be flag dances and children’s performances, singing and drinking. Like any other country celebrating Independence Day, Israelis will party. Unlike any other country, Israelis will ask themselves whether their State still has the right to exist. For the first time since its creation, Israelis and Jews worldwide are losing their certainty that Israel will be around for the rest of their lifetimes. Like a young teenage girl growing in a world surrounded with sick body images in the media, Israel is being swayed by the constant barrage against it. Yet it must remain confident if it is to continue as a strong nation for the next sixty years.