The Unbreakable Spirit of Israel

The Israeli Spirit the World Needs So Much. Please, Let It Not Disappear

There is something inexplicably powerful about the Israeli spirit, an energy, a warmth, a light that radiates far beyond its borders. I first felt it the moment I set foot in Israel. Though I had lived abroad before, in Germany, it was in Israel where something deep inside me shifted. I fell in love, instantly and completely.

After returning to the Netherlands, it took over three decades for me to visit again, first in 1982, and then only in 2015. That trip was six months after the founding of Time to Stand Up for Israel, and since then, I have returned 22 times. Twenty-two journeys to what feels like home. For me, each visit is like taking a vitamin pill, restoring my energy, filling my heart with hope, joy, and strength.

Israel is unlike any other place I’ve known. A small country, surrounded by enormous challenges, yet overflowing with positivity, innovation, compassion, and unity. It’s this contradiction that makes Israel so deeply beautiful and so urgently needed in today’s fractured world.

But I must be honest. My last trip, in February 2023, was different. The energy was still there, but something had dimmed. The protests, the internal arguments, the cracks in national unity, it pained me. I understood the passion behind the protests, but I longed for that sense of collective love for the land and the miracle that it is.

And then came October 7th.

A tragedy that pierced the heart of every Jew and every friend of Israel. Unspeakable horror. Lives shattered. Hope nearly crushed. Since that day, I have struggled not to slip into despair. I am a highly sensitive person. The rising tide of antisemitism, the blind hatred toward Israel, it wounds me deeply.

But even in the darkest moments, it is my Israeli friends who lift me. Always smiling, always hopeful. Even in mourning, they sing. Even under threat, they embrace life. Even after losing loved ones, they continue to give, to help, to fight for goodness.

There is no people like the Jewish people. There is no spirit like the Israeli spirit.

Judaism has taught us, for thousands of years, how to survive with faith. “Am Yisrael Chai”, the People of Israel live, not only in body but in soul. We survived Pharaoh, Rome, Inquisition, Pogroms, Auschwitz. And each time, we rose. We built. We danced. We dreamed again.

It’s not just survival, it’s creation out of the ashes. This is the soul of Judaism. The commandment to choose life (U’vacharta ba’chaim), even when surrounded by death. The insistence on joy, even on Shabbat in the shadow of grief. The moral foundation that has kept us alive for over 3,000 years.

And it is this spirit that founded Israel. A nation reborn from the Holocaust, making the desert bloom, absorbing Jewish exiles from all corners of the earth, and still standing firm, democratic, pluralistic, imperfect, but deeply vibrant. In the face of terror, Israelis open bomb shelters and their hearts. They volunteer, they donate, they unite.

Even as the world hurls lies and hate, Israelis continue to live with love for their land, their families, their history, and for a future filled with peace.

We all pray for the safe return of every hostage. For the defeat of Hamas. For security, yes, but also for understanding. For the Israeli people to remember what sets them apart: not just their strength, but their spirit. That indomitable light that has guided them through every storm.

The world needs Israel, not just as a refuge for Jews, but as a beacon for humanity. A place that shows what it means to rise, again and again, with faith, love, courage, and purpose.

Please, let the Israeli spirit never disappear.