Today Israel celebrates its 60th anniversary, and the world watches in full knowledge that amidst the fireworks of celebration are police and soldiers unable to celebrate alongside their fellow Israelis. These brave men and women are keeping watch over their people, vigilant as ever against the very real threat of rocket attack, suicide bomb, or all-out invasion.

Indeed, the proxy war against the Israeli people now being waged by Hamas and Hezbullah and various other terrorist organizations is just the latest battle in a long series of battles stretching back all these sixty years to 1948 when five Arab armies invaded Israel just as that infant state was birthed.

Now, decades after that war, and after a total of seven wars and two intifadas, Israel still stands strong. She is condemned by friend and foe alike, yet the values of freedom, democracy, and liberty which the West (at least in theory) holds so high still stand.

And this is the case for Israel–she is the emblem of the West and all we hold dear. Her citizens are also our citizens–British, American, Ethiopian–and they hold the same values and liberties we hold dear close to their hearts. Unlike the neighboring states–theocratic, despotic, brutal–Israel is fighting tirelessly to preserve freedom. They were the first to grant Arabs the right to vote in the Middle-East; the first to give women the right to vote in the Middle-East–and could become the light that leads the region into a new era of freedom and justice.

Historically there has been peace between the Jews and the Muslims. It was never a perfect peace, but was in many ways better than what we have now. The terror must end if this peace is ever to be achieved. The sponsors of terror–Iran, Syria–and those who would spread their extremism across the globe–the Wahhabi Saudi salafism–must be opposed. We must never forget who our true friend is, our true ally.

And while the enemies of Israel may be unwavering, much of the world, as usual, sits precariously on the fence. It is for their hearts and minds that we must continue to fight. This is as much a war of ideas as it is a war of bloodshed. The one leads to the other, or away from it.

Further reading:

Why I Strongly Support Israel, by Edward Beaman

The Desert Bloom, by Churchill’s Parrot

Happy Anniversary Israel, from Radarsite

1948, Israel, and the Palestinians, from Commentary Magazine

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