Israel celebrated its 60th birthday yesterday with both exuberance and foreboding. This was more than an excuse for a national party. Six decades after the Jewish state became a phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, Israel has much to celebrate. It is a thriving modern pluralist democracy of some seven million people. It has a free press and an independent judiciary. It has chalked up outstanding achievements, especially in science and technology and agriculture. Coverage of the anniversary has reminded us of the hardships endured by early settlers struggling to reach their promised land, their joy on arrival and the utopianism of life on the kibbutz.
Israel celebrated its 60th birthday yesterday with both exuberance and foreboding. This was more than an excuse for a national party. Six decades after the Jewish state became a phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, Israel has much to celebrate.
