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Multiple efforts in Jewish sovereignty have self-destructed after 75 years. Can Israel defy history — again?
(JTA) — This week marks Yom Haatzmaut, our beloved Israel’s 75th birthday — the day on the Hebrew calendar when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed “the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate” by establishing a Jewish state in the land of Israel. Together with countless Jews around the world, we express our gratitude to be alive at this moment in history when the Jewish people have sovereignty and a nation to call their own.
But on this anniversary, Yom Haatzmaut’s special prayers and festive afternoon barbecues fail to capture the fraught feelings many of us are experiencing. Jews across the globe in all our different peculiarities and particularities — from all political orientations, religious and secular, progressive and conservative, for and against the judicial overhaul being proposed by the current government — are reeling.
The past few months of terrible turmoil in Israel surrounding the judicial overhaul proposal have shown us how fragile our singular and precious Jewish state is. While Israel’s history is replete with instances when external forces threatened its people, this moment is unique in revealing internal threats to its democracy and social cohesion. We have seen toxic hatred rising among Israeli Jews, with fears of a civil war at an all-time high.
How, then, are we supposed to celebrate Israel on its 75th birthday?
The answer to this question lies at the heart of Jewish history and reveals that now is the moment for a new Zionist revolution led by both Israeli and Diaspora Jews.
Zionism was never just about establishing a Jewish state. It was about defying Jewish history. In 1948, when Ben-Gurion and his fellow Zionist leaders declared Israeli independence, it was nothing less than a radical assault on diasporic Jewish history. It defied the thousands of years of Jews being a minority in other countries, subject to the whims and caprice of other rulers. It defied the image of the weak and defenseless Jew. It even defied Jewish tradition itself, which for centuries was understood by many of its adherents to demand passivity by Jews as they waited for divine deliverance.
For two millennia, Jewish existence was one of vulnerability and victimhood — most often either hiding who we are or suffering for it. The Zionism of 1948 defied diasporic Jewish history by giving Jews power, self-determination and sovereignty to respond to external threats and establish a Jewish state.
Understandably, most of the work of early Zionism was focused on mere survival — establishing a state, providing safe refuge to the millions of Jews fleeing inhospitable lands and contending with enemy countries sworn to destroy the new nation. It succeeded beyond any of the wildest imaginations of its founders. The first 75 years of Israel, in which it has become a powerful and thriving state, are a testament to the success of Zionism in defying diasporic Jewish history.
But the next 75 years of Zionism present and impose on us a different task: To be Zionists today means we must defy a different chapter of Jewish history — one that might be called sovereign Jewish history.
Historians and educators have pointed out a critically important pattern in the history of Jewish self-rule. There are two pre-modern eras in which the Jewish nation enjoyed sovereignty in the land of Israel: at the end of the 11th century BCE with the Davidic Kingdom and the first Temple in Jerusalem, and in 140 BCE when the Hasmonean dynasty reestablished Jewish independence in Judea. But as each approached their 75th year of existence, each started to disintegrate because of internal strife and infighting. The Davidic reign over a united Israel effectively ended when it was split into the two competing kingdoms of Judea and Israel. The Hasmonean kingdom began to fall apart due to infighting between the sons of Alexander and Shlomtzion, the rulers of Judea in the first century BCE.
Sovereign Jewish history tells us that at around the 75th year, experiments in Jewish self-determination faced the most dangerous threat of all: self-destruction.
On its 75th birthday, Israel and its supporters face the internal tensions of sovereignty: What does it mean for Israel to be both a Jewish and democratic state and a home to all its citizens? How can Israel be both at home in the Middle East while modeled on Western democracies? How should its leaders balance majority Jewish culture with minority rights?
The concerns of the old Zionism certainly still exist: how to pursue peace even as Jewish vulnerability and safety continue to be threatened. But they take on a new character in this day and age, forcing us to ask how we can manage and embrace conflicting visions of Jewishness and Israeliness while nurturing social solidarity and cooperation across deep and painful divides.
This Yom Haatzmaut comes at a moment of rupture. But the current crisis in Israel represents an opportunity – a moment for our generation to ensure this rupture defies the pattern of sovereign Jewish history. The generations before us proved that we can rewrite diasporic history, turning a tale of vulnerability and weakness into one of strength and power. Our generation and those that follow must likewise defy sovereign Jewish history and prove that we can protect our Jewish state from the internal threats it faces. Our generation’s task is to overcome our divisions and not let fraternal hatred destroy our shared home.
On this 75th birthday, then, let us learn from our past and look forward toward a new future. Let us continue to celebrate the incredible success by writing a new chapter in the magnificent story of Israel and Zionism.
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The post Multiple efforts in Jewish sovereignty have self-destructed after 75 years. Can Israel defy history — again? appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hormuz Standoff Continues as US-Iran Ceasefire Teeters
People walk past a mural depicting the late leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the late Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Iran. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Prospects of a peace deal with Iran dwindled on Tuesday after Donald Trump said a ceasefire was “on life support” as Tehran rejected a US proposal to end the conflict and stuck to a list of demands the US president described as “garbage.”
Iran has called for an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where US ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists. Tehran also emphasized its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, demanded compensation for war damage, and an end to the US naval blockade, among other conditions.
Trump, who will discuss the war with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip to Beijing this week, said Iran‘s response threatened the status of a ceasefire announced on April 7.
“I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to end the ceasefire, told reporters on Monday. “It’s on life support.”
OIL EXTENDS GAINS
The US had proposed an end to fighting before starting talks on more contentious issues, including Iran‘s nuclear program.
Brent crude oil futures extended gains, climbing to around $108 a barrel, as the deadlock left the Strait of Hormuz largely closed. Before the war began on Feb. 28, the narrow waterway carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, and has since become a central pressure point in the conflict.
US Central Command said the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was in the Arabian Sea continuing to enforce the US blockade against Iran, having redirected 65 commercial vessels and disabled four.
The Pentagon put the cost of the war at $29 billion so far, an increase of $4 billion from an estimate provided late last month. An official told lawmakers the new cost included updated repair and replacement of equipment and operational costs.
The war also has driven a roughly 50% increase in gasoline prices across the US, where consumer prices rose at a brisk clip for a second straight month in April, resulting in the largest annual increase in inflation in nearly three years.
TRUMP’S TRIP TO CHINA
Surveys show the war is unpopular with US voters less than six months before nationwide elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republican Party retains control of Congress.
Two out of three Americans, including one in three Republicans and almost all Democrats, think Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday.
Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday.
Trump wants China to convince Tehran to make a deal with Washington to end the conflict. China maintains ties with Iran and remains a major consumer of its oil exports. China’s foreign ministry has said the US blockade of the strait does not serve the common interest of the international community.
The US on Monday imposed new sanctions on individuals and companies it said were helping Iran ship oil to China, part of efforts to cut off funding for Tehran’s military and nuclear programs, while also warning banks about attempts to evade existing curbs.
IRANIAN OFFICIALS USE TOUGH RHETORIC
Iranian officials, meanwhile, issued statements attempting to show continued resolve in the face of US pressure.
A Fars news agency report cited Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, as saying Iran had expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz into a “vast operational area” under a new plan.
There was no immediate reply from Iranian authorities to a request for comment on Akbarzadeh’s remarks, which defined the waterway as a zone stretching from the coast of the city of Jask in the east to Siri Island in the west.
In a post on X, parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei said Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, a level considered weapons-grade, if the country is attacked once more.
Iran’s defense ministry spokesperson said any new attack by an enemy would be met with an immediate response, according to state media. In Tehran, the Guards held drills “centered on preparation to confront the enemy,” state TV reported.
TRICKLE OF SHIPPING THROUGH HORMUZ
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a trickle. Shipping data on Kpler and LSEG showed that three tankers laden with crude exited the waterway last week, with trackers switched off to avoid any Iranian attack.
In the Qatari capital Doha, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the strait should not be used as a “weapon.”
Lithuania said it could contribute minesweeping capabilities and resources for a potential mission to protect shipping in the strait. Britain said on Saturday it was deploying a warship to the Middle East in preparation for a potential multinational effort in the strait once conditions allow.
Kuwait summoned Iran’s ambassador and handed him a protest note over what it said was the infiltration of Bubiyan Island by armed members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and clashes with Kuwaiti armed forces, the foreign ministry said. There was no immediate reaction from Iran.
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New Israeli Law Sets Military Tribunal for Hamas Oct. 7 Terrorists
Hand prints and other markings made in the soot on a wall are seen, nearly a year since the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, in Kibbutz Beeri, southern Israel, Sept. 15, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s parliament passed a law late on Monday establishing a military tribunal to try hundreds of Palestinian terrorists who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, a step lawmakers said would help heal national trauma.
The surprise attack, led by elite “Nukhba” force fighters from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was Israel’s deadliest single day and the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. At least 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities and political rule in neighboring Gaza.
Israel has been holding an estimated 200-300 fighters – the precise number is classified – captured in Israel during the attack, who have not yet been charged.
The special military court established by the law, to be presided over by a three-judge panel in Jerusalem, could also try others captured later in Gaza and suspected of participating in the attack, or of having held or abused Israeli hostages.
The new law was backed by a wide majority 93 of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers, in a rare show of Israeli political unity.
The terrorists burst through the Gaza border and rampaged through southern Israeli villages, army bases, roads, and a music festival. Besides the killings, the fighters also took 251 hostages back to Gaza.
NO TRIAL DATE
Lawmakers from both the governing coalition and the opposition authored the bill, meant to ensure all assailants are brought to justice under existing Israeli criminal statutes for what it describes as crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Proceedings will be public, with major hearings broadcast live. While defendants will attend only key hearings in person and all others by video, surviving victims will be allowed in-person access, according to the new law.
Ya’ara Mordecai, an international law expert at Yale Law School, said the new law raised some concerns about due process, given the military court setting, as well as a risk of atrocity proceedings turning into politicized or symbolic “show trials.”
Knesset member Yulia Malinovsky, one of the bill’s authors, said that the legislation ensures a fair and lawful trial.
“They will be sentenced by Israel’s judges, not by the street or by what we all feel,” Malinovsky said before the vote. “At the end of the day, what makes us great is our spirit, our resilience, ability to cope and withstand this immense pain.”
OPTION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Israel’s penal code includes capital punishment for some of the charges which the terrorists are likely to face. If handed down, a death sentence would trigger an automatic appeal on behalf of the defendant, according to the new law.
The last person executed in Israel was Adolf Eichmann, an architect of the Nazi Holocaust, hanged in 1962 after being captured in Argentina by Israeli agents. Military courts in the West Bank can sentence Palestinian convicts to death but have never done so.
A separate law passed by Israel in March making death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks drew criticism at home and abroad and is expected to be struck down by the Supreme Court.
HAMAS CONDEMNS NEW LAW
Hamas Gaza spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the new law “serves as a cover for the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.”
The International Criminal Court is probing Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war and has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders who have all since been killed by Israel.
Israel is also fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice. It rejects the allegations as politically motivated and has argued that its war is against Hamas, not the Palestinian people.
Israeli officials say the military has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
Another challenge for Israel has been Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
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Man Suspected of Plotting Violent Attack Had Sought to Target Louvre, Jewish Community, Officials Say
A man talks on the phone at the renovated Gallery of Five Continents (Galerie des Cinq Continents) in the Denon wing (Aile Denon) during a press preview at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, Dec. 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
A 27-year-old man suspected of plotting a violent attack and of planning to join Islamic State in Syria or Mozambique had sought to target a Parisian museum and the Jewish community, though no specific target was identified, a source close to the investigation said on Monday.
French newspaper Le Monde reported that the man, who was arrested on Thursday, had attempted to target the Louvre and the Jewish community in Paris’ 16th arrondissement.
Security gaps at the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, were spotlighted last October, when burglars made off with $102 million worth of jewels.
In France, as throughout Europe, antisemitic acts surged to record highs after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza.