By Faith Daily
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ISRAEL’S FIRST 70 YEARS HAVE SURPRISED THE WORLD
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ray a blessing of peace and prosperity over the land of Israel in years to come. Check out our new resources about Israel: devotionals and prayer guide. “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.” (Luke 21:32 ESV) In November 1947, one day prior to the expected United Nations vote on partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the CIA urged President Harry Truman not to throw his weight behind the idea. America would have to defend the new Jewish state when it faltered, the CIA’s
secret memorandum war- Jewish state would have a ned, adding that “the Jews 50-50 chance. will be able to hold out no longer than two years.” Today, those bleak assessments feel like ancient hisSeveral months later, Da- tory. As the modern Israeli vid Ben-Gurion was about state celebrates 70 years, to declare the establish- the prevailing sentiment is ment of the State of Israel. one of extraordinary acSeated among the dozen or complishment. so men who would determine the fate of the state- American Jewish leaders to-be, he famously turned were incensed in 1948 to one of his top military when Ben-Gurion came to commanders, Yigael Ya- the U.S. and spoke about din, and asked him if he the fledgling state as the thought a new Jewish state new center of the Jewish would survive the military world; today, that status is onslaught that the Arabs nowhere in doubt. would inevitably launch. Yadin, who would later In 1948, there were some serve as chief of staff of 650,000 Jews in Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces, who represented about replied that he thought the 5 percent of the world’s
Jews. Today, Israel’s Jewish population has grown tenfold and stands at about 6.8 million people. Some 43 percent of the world’s Jews live in Israel; this population overtook American Jews several years ago and is now the world’s largest Jewish community. Israel’s birthrate, even among secular Jews, is higher than that of any other OECD country, and significantly higher than that of American Jews (who now account for some 34 percent of Jews worldwide)….
for a country whose population approximates that of New York City. When the five finalists for the Man Booker literary prize were announced last year, two were Israelis who write in Hebrew: David Grossman and Amos Oz. Grossman won. Ever since S.Y. Agnon received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1966, the Israeli literary scene has been punching far above its weight….
Seventy years after its founding, Israel’s once-ruling Labor party has virtuaIsrael has become an im- lly no political influence. portant cultural center, There are many reasons for vastly disproportionately that, but its reputation as an
elitist, out-of-touch clan of European intellectuals is primary among them. Neither the Haaretz crowd nor the Israeli non-European majority is likely to alter its views of the other. Despite the many questions surrounding the Jewish state as it enters its eighth decade, what seems almost certain is that it will be not Ben-Gurion’s founding Labor party but the once marginal and now powerful political right that will rule this still young and fascinating nation for the foreseeable future. (Excerpts from Daniel Gordis’ article on Bloomberg News).