Israel Independence Day 2014

Tuesday, May 6 is Israel Independence Day or known by Jewish people as Yom HaAtzmaut. It is a happy celebration day for families and friends in which the independence of Israel is celebrated. On 6 May 1948, the Jewish people got their own independent country and became a nation recognized by the world after the tragic events of the Holocaust.

However, Palestinians regard this day as a disaster and call it Nakbah day. A false narrative is distributed ever since that the Jews stole Palestinian land and Israel Independence day could thus not be recognized. This is also the reason why the two Palestinian organisations, Fatah and Hamas refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, even until today.

Today, Sunday, May 4 is also known as Yom HaZikaron or Remembrance Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers during its many wars since independence. It is also a time when the people of Israel think of the many innocent citizens who lost their lives in terrorist attacks.

Thirty years ago in 1985, a song was written in Yiddish, which translated, goes like this:

In a corner stands a Jew

And he’s crying for his child going to war

And his tears are flowing like water

As he stands and he prays

To his father in heaven:

Father, haven’t we had enough?   

That question is just as true now, in 2014, as it was then in 1985.

Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel said the following at a commemoration service: Isaiah wrote “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” The sages teach that there were hundreds of prophets, but only those that carried a message for prosperity were recorded in the Bible. We must heed Isaiah’s prophecy, yearning for the day when peace will come with our neighbors, and we will not train for war anymore. But until that day, we mark and commemorate those who have given their last full measure of devotion, adhering to what King David wrote in Psalms: “Behold the Guardian of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep”.

It is a lesson for many world leaders that the leaders of Israel recognise God in their country’s destiny.

Watch this video: Israel Remembrance Day 2014