What is trite today was serious yesterday. As we mark the 78th anniversary of the State of Israel, do you recall what was being said only three short years ago on the 75th anniversary of Israel?

All manner of learned commentators, not to mention Israel’s enemies, were informing us that in Jewish history the lifespan of a Jewish state is 75 years. The State of Israel, founded in 1948, had a nice run. But now it’s downhill, and if not that, then actual collapse or destruction. Even some Israeli citizens, bitter critics of their government, were bemoaning the inevitable fate, the limited lifespan, of independent Jewish states, the modern one not excluded.

Is this even remembered on Israel’s 78th anniversary?

There is no need to remind ourselves of the bitter developments since Israel’s 75th anniversary: The atrocities of Oct. 7, the ensuing war against Hamas, the infinite pain over the hostages, the horrendous loss of young (and not so young) Israeli soldiers, the rockets from Hezbollah, the massive displacements of Israeli citizens, the Iranian missiles fired on Israel, the sirens, the disruptions, the contagion of anti-Semitism across the world spurred by spurious charges of genocide against Israel.

It all adds up to great military successes adjacent to great losses and disfigurements.

But is anybody talking about the collapse of the Jewish state lately? I haven’t heard. Where is all the talk of the limited 75-year lifespan of independent Jewish states in Jewish history? It’s become trite.

“The impossible takes longer,” Ben-Gurion is reported to have said about Israel.

Wars descend on Israel — and Israel’s stock market rises high. Impossible, no?

Soldiers are dragged away for long periods of reserve duty — as long as 400 days — and businesses and projects suffer, but most do not collapse. Also impossible.

So it goes.

The inevitable war with Iran breaks out — and Israelis celebrate their independence.

As Israel’s erstwhile Democratic Party friends in American politics vote against armaments for Israel, even missile-defense armaments, and the future looks bleak, America’s president stands with Israel.

It could all reverse tomorrow, but somehow, something new always emerges. Something strong.

Because in Israel the basics are there — basics that, taken together, virtually no other country has:

1. Mandatory, not voluntary, military service. Translation: Citizens’ willingness to defend their country, even at pain of death.

2. A high birth rate. Translation: Faith in the future.

3. A work-around the dearth of natural resources: Technological creativity. Translation: “Startup Nation.”

4. For every two Jewish Israelis and their proverbial three criticisms of Israel’s government —sometimes bitter criticism —along comes a near absence of pessimism about Israel’s future.

Three years ago, in 2023, the Abraham Accords of 2020 were already being taken for granted. Not to mention, the peace with Egypt (1982) and with Jordan (1994). But now, in 2026, there is talk of possibility of peace with Lebanon. Even the idea that any Lebanese government would openly call for an end to Hezbollah in its country was unheard even two years ago. No room for pessimism here.

Here is another basic that few other countries have: governments and peoples who wish it dead.

The Palestinian Authority, which the advocates for a two-state solution call “moderate,” wishes Israel dead. So does Iran. The leaders say this. It’s not hidden.

Expression of this genocidal desire on the 78th anniversary of Israel’s independence replicates what was said on the date of Israel’s creation in 1948 and on the date of every subsequent anniversary of Israel. Here, in a bitter paradoxical way, is another nail in the coffin of the 75-year lifespan idea. Israel needs to keep struggling. Its acceptance, even by those Arab countries that accept it, stems more from Israel’s military strength than from any pluralistic vision for the Middle East. All the more so must Israel struggle to find, in the eyes of its closest neighbors, the legitimacy of the Jewish homeland.

That may appear to be the tritest observation of all on Israel’s 78th anniversary, but it is also the most serious.

This remaining tall task notwithstanding, it is such a privilege, such a blessing, to be a Jew today.

© IJN 2026