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President's Message May 2008 
Recognizing the 60-Year Miracle of Israel
Born in 1970, I have no memory of a world without the state of Israel. In fact, I have no memory of a conventional military threat to Israel's existence. In my memory, Israel has always been a strong, stable and enduring entity in the Middle East. It is, of course, a blessing that Israel has been a fixture for the Jews of my generation. Blessings, however, often tend to encourage complacency. Israel's decades of strength obscures both the miracle of its creation as well as the fragility of its continued health. Israel's creation and growth to maturity, is, to my mind, a modern day miracle. A relatively small group of Holocaust survivors and other Diaspora Jews emigrated to their biblical homeland within a matter of only a few decades to found a new Jewish nation. While doing the yeoman's work of trying to turn a desert backwater into a working and livable country, they warded off at least five hostile armies and resurrected an ancient spoken language. Today, Israel is one of the most beautiful, modern, democratic and intellectually and culturally rich places in the world. Unfortunately, strength and stability have not yielded long-term security. Despite 60 years of seeking peace with its neighbors, the most that Israel has been able to extract is a cold peace with Egypt and a lukewarm peace with Jordan. The dozens of other Arab and Muslim states, not to mention many Islamic non-governmental organizations, are still in a state of perpetual war with Israel (and the Jews) which shows no signs of abating. Fortunately, Israel has always had the United States as a stalwart ally. Israel's continued existence would be a great deal more difficult, if not impossible, without our government's continued moral, financial and military support. Despite frequent anti-Israel commentary from sectors of the political Right and Left in this country, support for Israel appears to endure as the mainstream political consensus. While that is good news, Israel's dependency is an inherent, but perhaps unavoidable, fragility. Israel's continued vitality in the context of its fragility is further evidence of the miraculous nature of the Jewish state. In May 2008, let us all recognize and celebrate the modern day miracle of Israel. Jamie Green President |
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