Scottish journalist Stephen Daisley has penned a love letter to Israel, on the occasion of her 75th anniversary. In it, Stephen acknowledges we are going through rough times, but brings in some infectious optimism:
So there are plenty of reasons for Zionists to be gloomy on this, Israel’s 75th birthday, but there is one reason for optimism that outshines them all: Israel is 75. Israel was created; survived an immediate Arab effort to annihilate it; ingathered the survivors of the death camps; settled the land and built kibbutzim; struggled through the lean and lonely years; triumphed in the Six-Day War and reunited Jerusalem; pulled through the Yom Kippur War; endured two intifadas; rescued Beta Israel and welcomed the refuseniks; lost Yamit, lost Rabin, lost Gush Katif; made the desert bloom with fruits and microchips; and made peace with Arab nations. All of that in 75 years and, despite impossible odds, Israel lives yet.
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But it is in its ruggedness that Israel’s beauty is to be found. It is a land of miracles and yet a deeply pragmatic country, a nation beset by threats and divisions but set one foot on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport and you understand instantly why people uproot their family and settle there.
It also contains this gem of a line:
I have never loved Israel more than the time the manager of a Tel Aviv mini-mart yelled at me for a) not speaking Hebrew, b) being a foreign journalist, and c) coming in to shop when she was trying to watch TV. Only in Israel, the innovation nation, could they invent the inconvenience store.
Read the entire thing.
