I was born in British Palestine approximately nine months before Ben Gurion declared, on 14 May 1948, the state of Israel an independent state. Nurit, which is my name, is a flower growing wild in Israel after the winter rains.
My mother was a Holocaust survivor and my father, a Jewish warrior who ended up fighting in WWII as a member of the Jewish Brigade in the British army.
I have lived in Africa, Europe and now I live in the United States but Israel has always been my hub. To be in Israel, no matter where I resided, was always being at home.
I turned 65 and so did Israel; both, the Jewish state and me are at retirement age.
A Time For Reflection
However, while for me it is time for reflection and getting older, for the modern state of Israel the journey in modern history has just begun.
And so, I have decided to make a slight confession, based on what I have learned thus far.
I realized that if you were born in Israel you cannot take the Israeli out of you. No matter where I am and what I do, the state of Israel is part of my soul and it accompanies me in whatever I do because it has given me the privilege to be a free and proud Jew.
When I was young I did not quite understand what does it mean the nation state of the Jewish people. I just knew it is there and it always welcomes you, a home to all Jews.
A Lifeline
But now, I know the real meaning; Israel is the lifeline of the Jewish people and in that land is where the lifeline of every Jew and Israel meet. Without the Jewish people there is no Israel and without Israel the continuation of the Jewish nation is in great doubt.
In my later years, when I realized what Israel can do with any and all help, I have joined the unofficial Public Diplomacy-Hasbara camp with the hope that even one percent of what I have to say or I do makes a slight difference and helps Israel.
When being part of this camp I have to use precise wording. That Israel is not sixty five years old, rather 3,065 year old (Yes, Israel is 3,065 Years Old -)
I argue with the people who call the Arabs “Palestinians” and thus acknowledge this newly invented nationalism that was established to destroy Israel with any mean and way possible.
And I argue with people who call it the “West Bank,” not Judea and Samaria.
I never call the communities in Judea and Samaria “settlements” and their inhabitants “settlers.” These are pejorative terms that are harming Israel and Jews.
A Subversion Of History
Of course I lose my cool when I hear that people blame Israel for being an “occupying force” and the land of Judea and Samaria is “occupied” land. Occupied from whom? This is a subversion of history that has no explanation and excuse. Am I mistaken to know that the cradle of the Jewish nation began in Judea over 3000 years ago, not the Arabs?
Some call me “extreme Right Wing”; some call me “irrational” and that does not put me off or make me withdraw my position, rather strengthen it.
As a Jew, I owe the Arabs, not the “Palestinians” NOTHING. As a Jew I never heard of a state called “Palestine.” As a Jew, I have my rights to all the land that stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and I am not prepared to relinquish one grain of soil of it to anyone else who has no claim to it and for sure no one has such claim.
The Silver Tray
The poet Nathan Alterman wrote the song the ‘Silver Tray’ the silver tray on which the state of Israel was given to the Jews, a song that became a national symbol of the contribution of the warriors who fought in the Independence War to establish the state of Israel. But it is not only those warriors of 1948. Since then Israel was forced to fight many more battles and wars and many more Jewish defenders died while defending their homeland. And so, they continue carrying this silver tray on which the state of Israel is standing.
No one has the right to divide, to slice, or sacrifice the land of Israel and its capital Jerusalem. Every Jew has a share in this land and must be consulted and give his or her approval to such menacing intent.
The state of Israel is the Jewish people’s deposit on life and such deposit is irredeemable and non-refundable.
I will fight with all the spirit in me to defend my stance and protect Israel.
A Sabra Land
Israel is a Sabra land, the pear that is prickly on the outside and sweet on the inside. It is a daring, sassy, exciting, challenging, attracting, exceptional and of quality and freedom land. And it is our duty, the Jews, to accept Israel for what it is while the world may hates and tries to fail her.
If it is because of jealousy, so be it.
The answer is for us to support Israel even more while she continues to do what she is doing so well; to do good for and in this world, not only for the Jews but for the entire mankind, being light unto all nations.
Happy 3,065 years the nation state of the Jewish people, Israel, and may you go from strength to strength.
