It’s Time for Israel to Start Acting Its Age

Teenagers are exhausting. The adults don’t take their opinions too seriously. The class bully and the prom queen both take up too much space in their mental universe. And they are in a perpetual struggle to be one of the guys.

But the hundred-year-old World War II veteran? Sharp as ever, he carries himself with quiet confidence. Not from ego but from the wisdom of time. He doesn’t change his values to win friends; he’s outlived them. He isn’t rattled by haters; they are long gone. But threaten his family? And he’ll stop at nothing to protect them.

By the modern calendar, the State of Israel is a young teenager, ‘just’ seventy-seven years old. And many times, it behaves with the insecurity of one: desperate for validation, eager to please, twisting itself into diplomatic pretzels to avoid offending those whose favor it craves. It often counts its legitimacy in U.N. votes, and measures success by the warmth of a White House handshake. Israel is caught in a teenage drama, unsure when to be a dependent and when to stand on its own.

That confusion is understandable. Every maturing individual wrestles with it. But for a country, it can be fatal. When Israel puts appearances, outside approval, and relationships ahead of its own security, it creates danger, not peace.

The good news? Israel doesn’t need to grow up. It just needs to act its age.

Because Israel is not a teenager. It is not even going through a midlife crisis. Israel is the world’s oldest nation, nearly four thousand years old.

The story of Israel didn’t begin in 1948. It began when G-d told Abraham to leave his home and go to this land, promised as an eternal inheritance. It was reaffirmed at Sinai, defended by prophets and kings, and for thousands of years, Jews have faced Jerusalem three times a day, declaring that same promise.

Israel is not an upstart. It is an ancestor. And ancestors don’t apologize for their existence and they don’t entrust others with their defense. They know who they are, and they live with that truth. “Startup Nation” might be a good line for a business pitch, but it’s no way to ensure survival.

This false young-nation mindset hasn’t just weakened Israel’s image; it has endangered its people.

It was this mindset that produced the Camp David accords 1978, and the disengagement from Gaza in 2005. Each was sold as a step toward peace. Trust the Diplomatic process. Smile for the cameras. The nations of the world will guarantee your survival and acceptance. Each, instead, emboldened those sworn to Israel’s destruction. Not only was our security weakened but every one of those decisions led to more Jews being killed in Israel.

It is the same mindset that drives leaders to withdraw from southern Lebanon in 2000, release convicted terrorists back on the streets, and tie the IDF’s hands in battle to appease hypocritical critics who just want the annoying crisis to go away. Each compromise is a promise for safety or legitimacy but instead leaves us with an ongoing cycle of dependency and insecurity. Again, more Jews die because of this worldview.

For decades, the Lubavitcher Rebbe warned that dependency is not destiny, it’s a choice. Again and again he urged Israel’s leaders to start realizing their true role in the world and the real reason why the Jews are in that neighborhood. The world respects strength, he said, and using that strength is moral clarity. When Israel trusts itself with its own security and acts exclusively from that conviction, lives are saved.

But that clarity begins with knowing that the Land of Israel’s existence is unconditional. It doesn’t depend on the Oslo Accords, the Abraham Accords, the Balfour Declaration, or a U.N. vote. It is older than all of them, rooted in a divine covenant that is documented in the Bible, and predates Rome, Mecca, and Washington alike.

The Torah calls the Jewish people “a nation that dwells alone.” That can be read as a warning or as empowerment. If Israel was founded in 1948 based on the validation of others, then the loneliness would be a problem that needs fixing. Diplomacy would be a top value.

But being that Israel is the world’s 4000 year old sage, this solitude is not a problem. It is a privilege and an awesome responsibility.

Yes, that road is lonelier and unpopular. But it is the only road that leads to true security, because it is the only one rooted in truth and not in making friends. And only when Israel will finally act its age will they finally experience peace and discover the respect they so desperately seek.

It is a binary choice. Israel can either act as a teenager or an ancestor. And making the right decision will save lives. Literally.