At 78, is Israel really an independent state? - opinion

This Passover was different from others because we spent too much of it in bomb shelters, pondering whether during such confinement we were truly free.

At the time this is being written, it is looking like we may spend Independence Day similarly confined and pondering whether Israel is truly independent.

This year, I am set to speak at the Beachwood Kehilla in an eastern suburb of Cleveland, Ohio,  as part of the special Shabbat of scholars in residence. While I am in the US, I will also raise money for the rebuilding of communities in the Negev and the Galilee at a Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund breakfast in the Washington, DC, region.

To get to these events and others set for that week, I have purchased tickets for flights on El Al that may be canceled, and refundable backup flights through two Muslim countries, where I would do my best to hide my proud Jewish and Israeli identity.

The State of Israel will still light torches on Mount Herzl, award Israel Prizes, and host a Bible Quiz, but there still may not be audiences for the events, parts of which will be pre-taped and edited for television.

I realize that does not make Israel sound particularly independent, especially during the unique circumstances of this time.

So let’s ponder away: As Israel approaches its 79th year, is the Jewish state truly independent or condemned permanently to assisted living?

THE BEST evidence of our independence may have been the last Independence Day I spent in Israel, which was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID was the only time when Israel acted as though it were a small island with no neighbors. That was how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu persuaded Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to use Israel as a testing ground for its coronavirus vaccines.

Indeed, unlike in Europe, Israelis don’t drive to different countries, and we weren’t flying anywhere at the time, so we could be closely monitored and contained. Ironically, amid our confinement, we were more independent than ever.

The other extreme could be this war, when we may have been more reliant than ever on the United States. We are attacking Iran together, coordinating our militaries with impressive precision, but does anyone think the Israeli government – or any Israeli – will decide when the war ends?

When our children go back to school, when Ben-Gurion Airport opens up again, and when we can safely visit our relatives in the most targeted areas of the country, was decided solely by US President Donald Trump.

One of the lessons since Oct. 7 is that Israel must gradually wean itself off this unhealthy reliance on America, which may elect a president in a year and a half who is much less personally and ideologically committed to Israel’s security than Trump.

That being said, we also must feel gratitude for how far we have come since the US condemned Israel for attacking the nuclear facilities in Iraq in 1981, kept its distance when Israel destroyed Syria’s nuclear site in 2017, and joined only for the final strikes on Iran’s nuclear program last June.

SO, IF Israel is not so self-sufficient on the military battlefield and we can be an autonomous island during a pandemic, what about the media battlefield? Is Israel independent on that front as it approaches the end of its eighth decade?

There are those who believe we can be a nation that dwells alone and does not have to care what the world thinks about us, as some interpret the blessing of Balaam the prophet when we were on our way home from Egypt.

Perhaps we could pass any bill we want, no matter how extreme, take the law into our own hands, and not care if the world doesn’t like it. But despite his solid hawkish credentials, Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter has admitted he has not had an easy time dealing with the consequences of people who think that way.

Maybe it should be enough for the IDF spokesman to provide a boring nightly briefing in Hebrew to keep his own people calm, and have the army’s Arabic spokespeople brief regional media very uncalmly to deter our enemies, and not allocate resources or a significant effort to English and other languages.

Unfortunately, there are too many people, including those in positions of power, who believe we are an island, independent of the wider world.

Perhaps those ill-conceived notions can be understood because the support Israel has received from the Trump administration has lulled us into a false sense of security. Trump can get away with mocking the abhorrent behavior of the leaders of countries like Great Britain and France, but we lack his sticks and his carrots.

Instead of Balaam, the prophet who should come into play now is Joseph. He knew that his country had it good only temporarily, and he had to focus his attention on preparing for the lean years that he knew were coming.

We know they are coming, too, and we have to be getting ready. We have to be keeping the emerging dangers in mind every time we decide anything and every time we say anything.

The world is watching – and it is holding back; but it is very temporary.

We also feel a sense of security because our economy is doing well on certain fronts against all odds. But this, too, could turn around at a moment’s notice, and the huge amount of money spent on our defense since Oct. 7, without even mentioning less-consensus allocations, could easily put us in a predicament.

Israel is independent, but it is not free of the pressures of the wider world. Smart decisions need to be made to enable future celebration. 