Gamblor
04-26-2004, 02:38 PM
The Declaration of Independence (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.ht m)
Israel at 56 (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1082891657204&p=1006953079865)
Tonight, in that sharp transition that should earn Israel a patent, we switch from mourning our fallen soldiers to celebrating the nation they defended. There is plenty to celebrate.
Israel is a success story. Against all odds, the Jewish people has a country in its own land, after 2,000 years of exile. Initially, Arab leaders in the region welcomed the Jewish national movement, which arose just as Arab countries were themselves being founded and achieving independence. Indeed, some Arabs saw the Jews as allies in their own nationalist cause.
In June 1913, the president of the First Arab Congress, Abd-ul-Hamid Yahrawi, summed up the attitude of the delegates: "All of us, both Muslims and Christians, have the best of feelings toward the Jews. they are our brothers in race and we regard them as Syrians who were forced to leave the country at one time but whose hearts always beat together with ours. We are certain that our Jewish brothers the world over will know how to help us so that our common interests may succeed and our common country will develop both materially and morally."
In March 1919, the Emir Faisal wrote to then Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter: "The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. ...We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home. ...We are working together for a reformed and revised Near East and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is nationalist and not imperialist. Indeed, I think that neither can be a real success without the other."
Jewish-Arab relations have soured somewhat since then, but Yahrawi and Faisal have been proven right. The Jewish national project has flourished, while the Arab choice of enmity with Israel has been the primary cover for neighboring states not to confront their own political and economic failings.
Israel is not only a success relative to its neighborhood, but by a global standard. Despite hobbling economic policies, our standard of living ranks 35th among the nations, and 19th in life expectancy (above the US and UK). We have by far the largest number of hi-tech start-ups per capita in the world and have attracted venture capital at rates exceeding most European countries. Israel has, proportionately, the highest number of university graduates in the world, and the fourth largest air force, after the US, Russia, and China.
Our greatest success - however ironically, given the way we have been vilified - is not material but moral. Our enemies are consumed by hatred of us, and have attacked us with such barbarity that to call it war is to dignify an offensive composed almost entirely of war crimes. Yet we have not thrown our democratic values out the window in the name of security, as illustrated both by the elaborate judicial review imposed on security policies and by the freedom given Arab MKs to vilify their country and side with its enemies. Most dramatically, we have sacrificed our own soldiers' lives to minimize civilian Palestinian casualties in ways that few, if any, democracies would under similar circumstances.
Unlike our material success, our moral success is not an unequivocal contribution to our survival. Some argue or fear that democracies may not have what it takes to crush the jihadis, either on the global level or in our region – the jihadis themselves in fact rely on democratic sensitivities and weaknesses as a main form of protection. They think nothing of hiding among their own civilians and sending children to their deaths, knowing that the other side values life, particularly innocent life, differently.
Yet we continue to see our love of life as a strength rather than a weakness. Those who dismiss Israel as a temporary "Crusader state" and assume that their brand of hatred and radicalism will outlast us do not understand a free society's strengths.
The days immediately ahead may not be easy, in many respects. But as our 56th Independence Day begins tonight, let's remember both how far we have come and how far we have to go in improving what remains a dynamic work-in-progress. Based on our track record, we should have every confidence that we will succeed.
In conclusion,
Hatikva (http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/79F7EE5D-941B-4F4B-BE68-7E746FF0E6BC/0/HATIKVA.RA)
http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/40BBD98C-CB21-484F-9F44-3242EDF9B137/0/MFAJ0b080.jpg
Kol Od b'levav p'nima - As long as, deep within the heart,
nefesh yehudi, homia - the soul of a Jew yearns,
ulfateh mizrach kadima - and looking towards the east
Ayin l'Tzion sofia - an eye on Zion forever,
Od lo afta tikvatenu - not yet lost is our hope.
haTikva bat shnot alpayim - the hope of two thousand years
L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu - to be a free nation in our land
b'eretz Tzion Yerushalayim - the land of Zion and Jerusalem
On Yom Yerushalayim, you might have to deal with "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold)
Israel at 56 (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1082891657204&p=1006953079865)
Tonight, in that sharp transition that should earn Israel a patent, we switch from mourning our fallen soldiers to celebrating the nation they defended. There is plenty to celebrate.
Israel is a success story. Against all odds, the Jewish people has a country in its own land, after 2,000 years of exile. Initially, Arab leaders in the region welcomed the Jewish national movement, which arose just as Arab countries were themselves being founded and achieving independence. Indeed, some Arabs saw the Jews as allies in their own nationalist cause.
In June 1913, the president of the First Arab Congress, Abd-ul-Hamid Yahrawi, summed up the attitude of the delegates: "All of us, both Muslims and Christians, have the best of feelings toward the Jews. they are our brothers in race and we regard them as Syrians who were forced to leave the country at one time but whose hearts always beat together with ours. We are certain that our Jewish brothers the world over will know how to help us so that our common interests may succeed and our common country will develop both materially and morally."
In March 1919, the Emir Faisal wrote to then Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter: "The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. ...We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home. ...We are working together for a reformed and revised Near East and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is nationalist and not imperialist. Indeed, I think that neither can be a real success without the other."
Jewish-Arab relations have soured somewhat since then, but Yahrawi and Faisal have been proven right. The Jewish national project has flourished, while the Arab choice of enmity with Israel has been the primary cover for neighboring states not to confront their own political and economic failings.
Israel is not only a success relative to its neighborhood, but by a global standard. Despite hobbling economic policies, our standard of living ranks 35th among the nations, and 19th in life expectancy (above the US and UK). We have by far the largest number of hi-tech start-ups per capita in the world and have attracted venture capital at rates exceeding most European countries. Israel has, proportionately, the highest number of university graduates in the world, and the fourth largest air force, after the US, Russia, and China.
Our greatest success - however ironically, given the way we have been vilified - is not material but moral. Our enemies are consumed by hatred of us, and have attacked us with such barbarity that to call it war is to dignify an offensive composed almost entirely of war crimes. Yet we have not thrown our democratic values out the window in the name of security, as illustrated both by the elaborate judicial review imposed on security policies and by the freedom given Arab MKs to vilify their country and side with its enemies. Most dramatically, we have sacrificed our own soldiers' lives to minimize civilian Palestinian casualties in ways that few, if any, democracies would under similar circumstances.
Unlike our material success, our moral success is not an unequivocal contribution to our survival. Some argue or fear that democracies may not have what it takes to crush the jihadis, either on the global level or in our region – the jihadis themselves in fact rely on democratic sensitivities and weaknesses as a main form of protection. They think nothing of hiding among their own civilians and sending children to their deaths, knowing that the other side values life, particularly innocent life, differently.
Yet we continue to see our love of life as a strength rather than a weakness. Those who dismiss Israel as a temporary "Crusader state" and assume that their brand of hatred and radicalism will outlast us do not understand a free society's strengths.
The days immediately ahead may not be easy, in many respects. But as our 56th Independence Day begins tonight, let's remember both how far we have come and how far we have to go in improving what remains a dynamic work-in-progress. Based on our track record, we should have every confidence that we will succeed.
In conclusion,
Hatikva (http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/79F7EE5D-941B-4F4B-BE68-7E746FF0E6BC/0/HATIKVA.RA)
http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/40BBD98C-CB21-484F-9F44-3242EDF9B137/0/MFAJ0b080.jpg
Kol Od b'levav p'nima - As long as, deep within the heart,
nefesh yehudi, homia - the soul of a Jew yearns,
ulfateh mizrach kadima - and looking towards the east
Ayin l'Tzion sofia - an eye on Zion forever,
Od lo afta tikvatenu - not yet lost is our hope.
haTikva bat shnot alpayim - the hope of two thousand years
L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu - to be a free nation in our land
b'eretz Tzion Yerushalayim - the land of Zion and Jerusalem
On Yom Yerushalayim, you might have to deal with "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold)