After 77 years and a global surge in hate in which the Jewish state is itself the focus, the justice of the Zionist cause remains a historical imperative.
Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, is less of a nationwide party than usual this year. That was probably already a given for a nation still engaged in a war for its survival that began with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But having visited the sites of the brutal massacres that took place that day on the eve of Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, which traditionally turns from national mourning to celebration, it was clear that Israeli emotions are influenced by profound sadness about the losses they’ve experienced on that awful day and the ensuing 18 months of war.
The toll of deaths includes the 1,200 men, women and children killed during the barbaric Palestinian orgy of mass murder, torture, rape and kidnapping, as well as the 847 Israel Defense Force soldiers and 58 police officers who have died in the fighting since then to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, defeat the Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and deal with an increase in terrorism in Judea and Samaria.
On top of those somber statistics, Independence Day has been marred by fires that have raged in the greater Jerusalem area, which may well be largely the result of deliberate arson on the part of Arabs and not—as the corporate media insists—merely the result of global warming in part of the world in which heat and wind are not exactly unknown.