Israel’s 70^th anniversary is an appro­pri­ate time to marvel at its prodi­gious accom­plish­ments, to take deep sat­is­fac­tion at the seemingly insu­per­able hurdles it has overcome, and to reflect on the chal­lenges that lie ahead.

For one hundred gen­er­a­tions of Jews, the longing to regain our political inde­pend­ence and freedom in the historic homeland of our people was merely a dream. For today’s gen­er­a­tion, the real­isa­tion of these aspir­a­tions is a fact of life, but this must never be taken for granted. Jews every­where should never lose sight of how priv­ileged we are to live in this present era of restored Jewish sov­er­eignty.
We can take great pride in Israel’s achieve­ments in science, tech­no­logy, medical research, agri­cul­ture and many other fields. Israel currently enjoys unpre­ced­en­ted military power, economic success and dip­lo­mat­ic accept­ance. Yet the peace we long for remains elusive.
Those opposed to the res­tor­a­tion of Jewish statehood stopped at nothing to prevent it from happening and, from the moment Israel was estab­lished, stopped at nothing to try to wipe it out. Con­ven­tion­al warfare, terrorism, economic and cultural boycotts, demon­isa­tion and even the revival of antisemitism have all been tried, and have all failed, in the attempt to bring about Israel’s demise. For this we can thank God, and the stead­fast­ness of Israel’s people and their sup­port­ers.
Israel’s enemies have not yet exhausted their rep­er­toire of follies. More trials undoubtedly lie ahead. The theo­crat­ic dic­tat­or­ship in Iran pursues its patho­lo­gic­al ambitions for regional hegemony and, ulti­mately, for con­front­a­tion with Israel. Palestini­an leaders, stuck in a century-long rut of fan­at­icism, violence and cor­rup­tion, continue to bring one disaster after another upon their people.
Yet, as we have already witnessed with Egypt, Jordan and, more recently the Gulf States, enmities between nations, as between people, do not last forever. Over time, the march of history can bring about dramatic changes in rela­tion­ships between nations.
This makes it all the more important for Israel to hold fast to our Jewish values, to the founding prin­ciples of Israel’s Declar­a­tion of Inde­pend­ence, to democracy, indi­vidu­al freedom, an inde­pend­ent judiciary and a vigorous free press. Only then can we remain optim­ist­ic, secure in the knowledge that Israel rep­res­ents the light of the future, while its enemies wallow in the darkness of the past.
Peter Wertheim, ECAJ co-CEO

The preceding content was published in J‑Wire. The original version can be access here.