As Israel, the solitary bastion of democracy, religious freedom and the rule of law in the Middle East, marks its remarkable achievement in reaching the 70th anniversary of its foundation, it is not only Jewish people who have good reason to celebrate. Malcolm Turnbull’s description of the Jewish state as a “miraculous nation” that has “flourished” against massive odds is apt. To the obvious chagrin of its adversaries and detractors in the ALP and the mindless Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, Israel has evolved from an arid desert wasteland, surviving decades of adversity, existential hostility and wars, to become a prosperous nation. It is, as Mr Turnbull said, “a world leader in every field of science and technology, its culture of innovation the envy of the world”. Celebrating the success of a nation “born from the seeds of the diaspora and the ashes of the Holocaust” is well justified. In doing so there is also a need for realism in understanding that as much as Israel has gone through and achieved, the challenges ahead will be no less testing.
Read the editorial at The Australian (subscription required).