Israel and America

George W. Bush travels to Israel this week to give what Press Secretary Dana Perino says will be “an important speech” to the Knesset.  The lead editorial in today’s New York Sun (“Israel at 60”) captures the achievement of Israel and places it not only in the context of Jewish history, but American history and the history of the 20^th century as well:

What tricks history can play — and within a lifetime or even half a lifetime. Theodor Herzl’s own rise to greatness happened over the space of little more than seven years. He was, after all, but a dashing foreign correspondent in Paris, assigned to cover the trial of a French Army captain named Dreyfus, when he walked out of court and, in a fury of inspiration, wrote, in Der Judenstaat, the essay that, along with the Zionist congresses he launched, made him what many, ourselves among them, see as one of the greatest figures of all time.

Not that the idea of the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in the promised land was his invention. For centuries, Jews have ended Passover seders with the words, “Next year in Jerusalem.” The dream was echoed even by some of America’s own founders, who tended to view the world in the light of Sinai. The inscription on the Liberty Bell (“Proclaim liberty throughout the land …”) is from the Hebrew bible. Madison himself spoke Hebrew. John Adams, we are reminded in the book “Israel in the Mind of America,” voiced in his later years the hope for “the Jews again in Judea an independent nation,” though his hope was tinged with supersessionism. . . .

When David Ben Gurion declared independence on May 15, 1948, he did so in face of opposition from many among the world powers, including virtually everyone at our own state department. . . .

What stands out when we look back at the history of Israel is the wisdom of the strategic decisions made by its founders. They sided with Britain and the Allies in World War II even while aspiring — and conspiring — to throw off British colonialism. They plunged ahead, despite partition, even though it was detested by many. They stood in opposition to the designs of the Soviet Union, even though many of them came from Russia and favored a socialist approach. Israel made a profound bet on democracy, establishing a famously fractious parliament and independent judiciary and uninhibited press.

Our contributing editor, David Twersky, observes that the notion, so widespread in the world, that a small nation state with a Jewish majority somehow reflects the worst of the last century rather than the best, turns political thought on its head. The Israelis, whatever the resolution of the territorial arguments about their ancient homeland, have established a decent, humane, and richly cultural life. It is among the best of what civilization has accomplished over the last century of blood and war, hopes crushed and millions destroyed. The anniversary that Mr. Bush will join in celebrating with Israel this week is a cause for celebration for all of us.

Here is a related excerpt from a JCI post on last year’s Israel Independence Day:

Israel Independence Day commemorates something as close to a miracle as we are ever likely to see — the re-creation of an ancient state in the Land in which it stood 2,000 years before, the resurrection of an ancient language to bind the ingathering of exiles who had no other place to live, the creation of a democracy that extended citizenship not only to Jews but to every Arab who did not leave or flee during the genocidal war against the state that commenced on the day of independence, and the subsequent growth of the state into a modern economy and a vibrant civil society while under continual military attack over six decades, including the religious crusade currently waged against it.. . .

[A]s Haviv Rettig writes, the “very first draft of the [Israeli Declaration of Independence] was a Hebrew translation of the American Declaration of Independence” . . .

The picture of the American President addressing the Israeli Knesset at a time when the founding principles of both countries are under existential attack by a new totalitarian ideology will itself be an important moment in history.