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Why are we arguing about who owns the land, when in the end the land will own us both?
To solve our conflict, we must recognize not only each other’s right to self-determination but also each side’s right to self-definition.
And the refusal to see us as we are—an inseparable part of this region—leads your side to repeatedly underestimate our resolve. No less than you, I am prepared to sacrifice to ensure my place on the land we share.
“When the Lord returned the exiles to Zion we were like dreamers,” wrote the Psalmist. Being an Israeli is like awakening into a dream.
But sometimes it occurs to me that the most boring details of our daily life were the greatest dreams of our ancestors.”
In success or failure, in glory or disgrace: The fate of Israel is my fate, too, my shared responsibility. That, for me, is the meaning of Zionism.
But Jews without faith, who still remain faithful to their people—contributing to its well-being, raising their children as Jews—will be widely regarded by fellow Jews as within the fold.
Converts and born Jews are interchangeable; once you commit to the Jewish people and its faith, you are retroactively linked to its very origins—to the first Jewish converts, Abraham and Sarah.
For me, carrying a four-thousand-year tradition that has thrived despite sometimes overwhelming hostility is a privilege and a responsibility.
The saddest moment in this country is not Holocaust Day, which we observed last week, but Memorial Day, a reminder that this is a country where parents sometimes must bury their children so that Israel can live.
On Holocaust Day, we mourn the consequences of powerlessness; on Memorial Day, we mourn the consequences of power.
The invisible refugees, Mizrahi Jews called themselves. Nearly one million Jews lived in the Muslim world in 1948; today, barely 40,000 remain.
Even as we seek a two-state solution, we will likely remain with a two-narrative problem.
When we feel unfairly stigmatized, we toughen our position.
The enemy of justice for both sides is absolute justice for either side.
If I had to sum up in one word what most characterizes Israeli society, it is: paradox.
“The rebirth of Israel didn’t occur because of the Holocaust. The Holocaust occurred because there was no Israel.”
And so, neighbor, our annual Holocaust commemoration isn’t about clinging to victimhood but the opposite: reaffirming the Israeli commitment to never again be victims. That is at the heart of the Israeli ethos.
When your enemy says he intends to destroy you, believe him.
