Published: 14 May 2024
Last updated: 13 May 2024
I have always struggled with Yom Ha’atzmaut, Australia Day, and the national days of all the countries I have ever visited or lived. While I appreciate the importance of nation states in granting rights to their citizens, and owe my life to their existence, I have always thought it strange to celebrate their birthdays. Celebrating the birth of people is something that I understand, but why do nation states need parties?
In 2024, I feel this even more so. Since leaving Melbourne for Jerusalem in 2018, I have always celebrated the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut with my kids by taking them to Ben Yehuda Street or Tel Aviv for the silly string spraying with giant plastic hammers, followed by live music and amazing fireworks. On the day, we often picnic in a park with fellow Olim to watch the impressive air force flyover.
This was the easy part of the day. The hard part of the day was always that knowledge I knew quite well about the Nakba, the fact that the birth of Israel that I was celebrating came at the expense of a homeland for Palestinian friends and neighbours.
As someone who believes in both Jewish and Palestinian self-determination between the river and sea, it never felt right to celebrate one without the other. These two visions are twins born of the same mother. Therefore, I always dreamed that they would one day celebrate their birthdays together.
The past year has seen the dream of Israeli security and Palestinian freedom under threat like never before. In October, several kibbutzim and southern cities fell into the hands of Hamas for long enough to result in the deadliest attack in the history of this country. The trauma and pain from that day was so deep that for many Jewish Israelis today, it is still October 7.
Since the war, the Palestinians of Gaza have experienced what they call a second Nakba. Enormous death, starvation, displacement and ruin of their way of life, with no hope of returning to their homes in the foreseeable future.
Comments4
donna jacobs sife14 June at 12:26 am
its all so hard. Kol hakovod Ittay. Just as I couldn’t mark Australia Day without Invasion Day, I relate to the hope and the despair. I know one day your vision of Israel will come to be, I may not be here to see it, but ken yhi ratzon.
Bev Novak4 June at 01:23 am
So well said Ittay. These words were the basis of a song you may know. Originally released in 1962 by The Limelighters – Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season:
https://youtu.be/ofnMHuCCp2c?si=Bcs8qDoLqKv2Py8b
and then became an international hit in late 1964 by the The Byrds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4
Laurance Splitter15 May at 01:47 am
Two comments. First, I endorse the concern, raised by Ittay, about the relevance of nation-state birthdays, but it leads to uncomfortable questions about the relevance of nation-states in the first place, especially those that also have a religious basis (of which Israel is one among many). At the very least, it is difficult to imagine such states being democratic. Secondly, I applaud his (and others’) efforts in bringing together young Israeli/Jewish/Arab/Palestinian/Muslim people in environments where they can engage in genuine dialogue. This fosters a sense of humility and empathy, two dispositions which are sorely needed.
Jacqui14 May at 12:19 pm
Ittay – hold on tight to that hope. Hatikvah.