Israel at 70
Israel turns 70 today, according to the Hebrew calendar, and the Jewish state is celebrating this milestone with multimedia ceremonies worthy of the Olympics. It’s a rightful celebration of Israel’s remarkable triumph in the face of decades of adversity and opposition and the fulfillment of its founders’ two stated goals: to provide a haven for persecuted Jews and to serve as “a light unto the nations.”
It’s also a recognition of the perils and challenges that still remain: Surrounded still by mostly hostile neighbors, several defiantly intent on Israel's destruction; a terrifying resurgence of European antiSemitism; calls for Israel’s economic isolation and growing assaults from US and European intellectuals and the political left.
At home, Israel remains roiled by partisan strife and ongoing tensions between religious and nonreligious sectors of society.
Yet in many ways it’s stronger than ever. In the face of the threat from Iran, it has forged once-unimaginable (albeit tentative) alliances with Arab Gulf states like Saudi Arabia. Its ties to Egypt remain strong, thanks to the mutual threat from Hamas-controlled Gaza.
And, for the first time, there is recognition — led by the United States — of Jerusalem as its eternal capital.
For all the radical calls for disinvestment, Israel remains a technological powerhouse — arguably the most important source of hightech innovation outside of Silicon Valley.
Its overall economy, as historian Michael Oren notes, has one of the highest growth rates in the world, and its military ranks among the world’s most powerful — especially noteworthy given Israel’s small size.
And the same nation that provided a haven for refugees from Nazi Europe, those expelled from Arab lands and those persecuted in Ethiopia remains the first to provide aid to other countries that have suffered natural disasters and catastrophes.
Seventy years after Israel arose from the seeds of the Diaspora and the ashes of the Holocaust, its most remarkable achievement is that, even as it still yearns for permanent peace and security, it remains a nation of promise, optimism and joy.