I have vivid memories of the pride I felt when my son Yoni took his oath as a Givati soldier to defend the borders of Israel. Tears welled in my eyes. My father was also crying. As I looked at him, a man who lost half his family to Hitler, I wondered whether he was thinking that if there had been an Israeli army and a sovereign Jewish state at the time of World War II, six million of our brothers and sisters might be alive today.
Those who live in the United States and choose not to recognize the State of Israel, on the strength of this or that rationalization, would do well to keep in mind that should the need ever arise, God forbid, for Jews here or in any other country to flee, Israel will be there to accept them – yes, even them, the naysayers – with open arms. Ironically, the same medina they fail to recognize and appreciate awaits them with love and acceptance.
For that alone we should appreciate and recognize the State of Israel.
