My first election as an Israeli citizen
I was born in Kew Garden Hills, NY in May 1953 five years after the creation of the modern State of Israel. For my parents, I think the existence of Israel was a modern miracle. Similar for them, to the miracles of survival that Jews celebrated on Chanukah, Purim and Passover. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv. The next day, armies from five Arab nations (Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon) invaded the region pledging to drive the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea.
Despite a US arms embargo, Israel survived the war which formally ended with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. The original UN plan for an independent Jewish state and an independent Muslim state (with Jerusalem to be internationalized) was nullified. Jordan conquered and controlled Jerusalem and the parts of the West Bank that was promised to the Arabs for an independent Muslim state. Egypt conquered and controlled the Gaza strip that had been promised to the Arabs for an independent Muslim state. Those new borders held for 18 years. During that period the Arab countries refused to ever sign a peace treaty accepting the existence of Israel and they never took any steps to create an independent state for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel was governed by its original pioneers including David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, and Chaim Weizmann. I knew very little about it except that it was a real democracy that was socialist, environmentalist, and committed to protecting its citizens and its land. My parents of course remained enormously proud (though they never could afford to visit the country during that period) but I remember them watching proudly on TV when Abba Eban spoke eloquently at the United Nations. I went to Jewish day camps where we sang Ha Tikva and David Melech Yisrael.
In 1967 when I was 14 years old, the six-day war broke out and for my parents it was another miracle. Israel not only survived (again) but conquered Gaza, the West Bank and the holy spots in Jerusalem. For me, my image of Israel was locked in at that point. Israel existed and was the military superpower of the region. Neither I nor my parents had ever actually been to Israel and it was still someplace far away.
In 1969 I spent the summer of my 16th year in Israel on an organized program paid for with the money that I had been given as bar mitzvah gifts.
Israel was still primarily an agricultural country with intellectuals and environmentalists who worked the land with their own hands and a social democratic country that provided housing, medical care and basic needs to all of its citizens. I honestly did not think much about the future of the people living in the conquered territories because I assumed that in due time most of the land would be traded back to Egypt and Jordan in return for recognition of Israel and a future of peace.
The fifty-six years between my visit in the summer of 1969 and my Aliyah in 2025 certainly did not proceed as hoped for by so many. There were more wars and the rise of Palestinian terrorism. There was a vibrant Israeli left that still hoped to negotiate a peaceful resolution. In November, 1995 Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a far-right Jewish extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords and Rabin’s peace initiatives.
Ultimately, Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister (for the first time) in 1996, and then again in 2009. Today, he has been in leadership 16 of the past 17 years. Serving in his government are people very similar to the far-right extremists who murdered Rabin.
When I came back to Israel on my first “scouting” trip before deciding to make Aliyah I was struck by the wonderous country that had been envisioned and created by the early founders and determined to spend the remaining years of my life helping to create the future Israel that lived up to its initial potential. The first step for me is the opportunity to vote in the upcoming elections as a new citizen. I am excited, scared and very hopeful.
I understand that replacing the current government with a new coalition will be just the first step. I have not yet decided which party to give my vote to but the things that are important to me include: 1. Sponsoring an honest investigation into the failures that led to the October 7 massacre. 2. Ending the criminal terrorism being committed by settlers against Palestinians living in the West Bank and 3. establishing a core education curriculum for all Israelis.
Most importantly, I want to be part of an Israel committed to the precepts laid out in its Declaration of Independence of May 1948 which promised to promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants;” based on the precepts of liberty, justice, and peace taught by the Hebrew Prophets; that will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of race, creed, or sex; (that) will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education, and culture;”
I am excited and grateful to have been accepted home in Israel. I consider the opportunity to participate in the upcoming election to be a privilege and an honor.
