JERUSALEM (WSVN) – As Israel celebrates 75 years, 7News takes a look at the progress made and the challenges that lie ahead.
On Monday, police said there was a terror attack that involved a vehicle, which rammed into some individuals.
There was a wail of sirens across Israel, Monday night.
It is an annual ritual to honor the country’s war dead. For nearly 24 hours, the nation is at a standstill.
This event happening just days after unprecedented protests due to a proposal to strip some of the Israeli Supreme Court’s power in favor of the government.
All of it was in stark contrast to Sunday evening with a celebration in the desert to mark Israel’s 75th anniversary.
As Israel moves into its 76th year, it faces new challenges and victories, apart from the ongoing dispute with the Palestinian people.
One of the victories, according to some experts, were the 2022 Abraham Accords, which normalized the relationship between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Morocco would join later.
“I think there’s a recognition again that the Israelis are here to stay,” said Ariel Bentata, with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
But some clearly have not recognized that.
Violence with the Palestinians picked up over the last several months.
“There’s like a certain feeling of we’re like always going to be hated, so even if we believe in peace, it definitely has to come from both sides,” an Israeli woman said.
Still, former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett sees a different way forward, arguing that Israel, which is in the top 30 of the world’s major economies, should focus on becoming what he calls, a lighthouse among nations.
“Israel in the Middle East is sort of an anchor of stability and strength against the bad forces, primarily the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Bennett said.
One way, he said, is to encourage innovation and export it abroad.
Like Mobileye, one of Israel’s most valuable companies, which develops car collision avoidance technology.
Visitors from the Greater Miami Jewish Federation met the CEO on Sunday.
“Israel has a lot to offer and has already exported a lot of these technologies to many developing countries and is helping them with their own developments,” Bentata said.
And in fact, Israel and former advisory Jordan, have signed a solar power for water exchange agreement.
Still, issues of war and peace loom large.
The Palestinian enclave of Gaza is about a mile from the Israeli city of Sderot.
Many people who live there could not ignore the conflict even if they wanted to, but they said, they still try to focus on their own lives.
“Everybody, they want to go, they want to come, work, to provide, and they want peace,” a man said. “Just like little, some people that really, I think don’t want peace. I think they don’t believe in peace.”
Violence has surged on both sides in the last several months.
Ninety Palestinians have been killed, at least 19 Israelis, as well as some other nationalities have died due to the violence seen in the last few months.
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