Today commemorates the birth of the modern State of Israel in the context of the drama of October 7 and the war in Gaza. The risk of political defeat is even more serious than military defeat. The challenge to “do your part in the common effort for the progress of the entire Middle East,” as written in the Declaration of Independence.
Marked by the trauma it suffered on October 7, Israel is experiencing a new anniversary of its Independence, the national holiday that celebrates the declaration that David Ben Gurion solemnly read on May 14, 1948 and that began its modern history. Six months earlier, the United Nations General Assembly had voted on resolution 181, which ended the British mandate in Palestine and anticipated a horizon of “independent Arab and Jewish States.” The next day, on May 15, the armies of the Arab countries of the region attacked the newly formed State of Israel, the first act of the conflict that we all know and that in these seven months has reached levels of violence in the kibbutzim and Gaza. unprecedented, from which it is still difficult to see a possible way out.
Israel celebrates its independence, like all countries in the world. But never as in these circumstances must one face the question: can a country really rely only on its own forces to safeguard its independence? Obviously it is a valid question for all countries. But in Israel – after the Shoah – it has a much stronger meaning. In a very provocative book from a few years ago, Avraham Burg – former speaker of the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) and secretary of the Jewish Agency – spoke of the need to “really defeat Hitler” and pointed Israel towards the path of redefinition of its collective identity, trying to go beyond a mere nationalist exaltation to recover that universal outlook that early Zionism carried in its DNA.
It is a parable opposite to the one Israel has followed in the last twenty years. Having brought into government the extreme nationalist right of Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – the heirs of the Kach, the movement that in 1994 Yitzhak Rabin defined as “a shame for Zionism” – has meant for Benjamin Netanyahu closing the circle of theorization of a Jewish State willing to go “against everything and everyone”, in order to affirm a unique identity. And the murderous terrorism of Hamas has only accelerated this race. The result is the current scenario, in which Israel finds itself in unprecedented isolation in the international community, and even its great ally, Washington, hesitates to support it.
With each passing day it becomes more evident that the outcome of the current war will not be military but political. And by continuing to rely solely on its strength, Israel is only aggravating its crisis, risking losing everything it has built in these 76 years. It is no coincidence that, while in the past conflicts have always united Israel, this time the country is deeply divided, as demonstrated by the demonstrations in the streets with the families of the hostages in the front row.
Limiting yourself to repeating like a mantra the right to “defend yourself”, today, for Israel, is not a manifestation of independence but a path towards the precipice. Many countries have shown that they are willing to defend Israel; Even some Arab states did so on the night of Tehran’s drone and missile attack. But it can only happen again within the confines of that same international community that today calls on Israel to assume responsibility for the unresolved Palestinian question, as happened last week at the UN General Assembly. It is not a “prize” for terrorism, but the only way to truly defeat Hamas and eradicate the anti-Semitism that has spread again.
“We extend our hand to all neighboring States and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and we urge them to establish links of cooperation and mutual aid with the sovereign Jewish people settled in their land. The State of Israel is ready to carry out their part in the common effort for the progress of the entire Middle East. In their Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers of the State of Israel wrote this in 1948. And they did so acutely aware of the conflict that was about to break out, while offering guidance for the future. Perhaps the time has come for those who care about the fate of Israel to have the courage to start again from here.
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