For me, as an Israeli, the country’s most impressive achievement as it approaches its 70th birthday is that modern Israel has not only survived attacks by its many Arab and Muslim enemies, but also prospered in roughly the same location as the ancient Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  In 70 A.D., the 1,000-year-old Jewish state with Jerusalem as its capital and the Second Temple at its center was invaded, conquered, and destroyed by the Roman Empire.  Now the new modern Jewish state is celebrating 70 years of existence while the Roman Empire as well as many other conquerors of the land of Israel during the last 3,000 years have disappeared.  If past history is an indicator of future events, the Jewish state will outlast its modern enemies who rose during the last century to destroy it and become more powerful than one could possibly imagine.

For over 3,000 years, the land of Israel came under the rule and conquests of many empires such as the Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arab caliphates, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottomans, and British, but it is only the Jews who have continuously inhabited the area, the only ones who have ever established an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem.

When waves of Jewish immigrants escaping anti-Semitism in Europe came to the land of Israel at the end of the 19th century, the land was mostly empty, barren, desolate, and uninhabitable.  When my mother emigrated to Israel, under British rule in 1936, she came in the midst of waves of violence and massacres committed by local Arabs against the Jews who had been working over 50 years to cultivate the land by drying the swamps; planting trees; and building hospitals, roads, factories, and universities.  In November 1947, the entire Arab world joined the local Arabs in rejecting the U.N. partition plan.  The Jews accepted the plan, which created an Arab state alongside a Jewish state in the area west of the Jordan River.  While the Jews, including my parents, were rejoicing and dancing in the streets, the Arab world was contemplating the destruction of the new nation.

On May 15, 1948, the Arab assault on Israel began hours after David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, declared Israel’s establishment one day after the British armies left.  Five Arab armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new state from all sides along the entire border, with artillery, armored battalions, and fighter-bombers, while the local Arabs were fighting in the interior of the country.  One Egyptian fighter-bomber that attacked Tel Aviv killed my father’s 15-year-old brother.  My father, alongside his other brother, was involved in the fighting against the local Arabs in Jaffa, which came under Israeli control.  Israel was able to defeat the combined Arab armies, but the Arab Legion of Jordan, led by a British commander, was able to conquer the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City and all the Jewish holy sites.  Over 6,000 Israelis, 1% of the entire Israeli Jewish community, died in the war.

When I was born in 1959, Jerusalem was a divided city, and Jews were not allowed by the Jordanians to visit or pray at their holy sites. 

Prior to 1967, as a child, I used to visit my grandfather who lived on Mamilla Street in Western Jerusalem, very close to the no man’s land outside the Jaffa Gate in the Old City.  It is hard to believe that from May 27, 1948, through June 7, 1967, Mamilla was Israel’s frontline and the border of Israel with Jordan.  The western three quarters of Mamilla were held by Israel, and the eastern quarter became a wasteland of barbed wire and concrete barricades between the Israeli and Jordanian lines.  At the time, Jordanian snipers stood on the top of the Old City walls and tried to shoot any Israeli in West Jerusalem down below.  As a four- to seven-year-old kid, I used to crawl out of my grandfather’s house to avoid being randomly shot at by snipers for being Jewish, and then had to run quickly to avoid being shot at.

On June 5, 1967, Israel was forced into a war against the combined armies of Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and the Six-Day War began.  Miraculously, the Israeli Army defeated the combined Arab armies, conquering the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, from the Jordanians.  After 2,000 years, we were again free to pray in a united Jerusalem.

I was eight when I visited the Old City for the first time, praying for the first time at the Western Wall and climbing to the Temple Mount where the two Jewish Temples stood.

On October 6, 1973, the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a coordinated fourth war against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, when many of Israel’s soldiers were away from their posts observing the Day of Atonement by fasting.  Taking the IDF by surprise, they made territorial advances deep into the Sinai and Golan Heights, inflicting heavy casualties.  It took days for the Israeli Army to mobilize its soldiers and counterattack to recapture the lost territory.  I was 14 at the time and just starting high school when all the men in the neighborhood, including my three brothers, were called to join the fight.  My new high school gym teacher, whom I had known for only a month, was killed in that war.

Since then, Israel has never been attacked by Arab states but has been repeatedly attacked by Arab terrorist groups such as Hezb’allah from Lebanon and Hamas from Gaza, using missiles and rockets, as well as by the PLO in the West Bank using such tactics as suicide bombers, knives, and car-ramming, which have taken the lives of thousands of Israeli civilians.  In a country of 6.5 million Jews, 23,646 Israeli soldiers have fallen, and 3,117 victims of terrorist attacks have died.  In memory of the fallen, places of entertainment in Israel are shut down for 24 hours, and radio and TV stations air documentaries about the fallen soldiers and terror victims.  More than 1.5 million Israelis are expected to visit Israel’s 52 military and other cemeteries throughout Memorial Day, while sirens will wail twice across Israel as cars and residents stand still.

As Israel is celebrating its 70th birthday, the bad news is that it is still resides in the most dangerous and unstable neighborhood in the world, facing many enemies who wish to destroy it.  The Arab public still hates the Jewish State even though its leaders are reconciling themselves to its existence, fearing Iran even more.  The Arab armies’ threat has been succeeded by the Iranian aspiration for regional domination and its axis of evil such as Hezb’allah, Hamas, Shiite-controlled Syria and Iraq, and its Shiite militias.  Moreover, Israel is facing Sunni Islamist jihadists and the Palestinians who have returned to attack Israel by themselves and through the BDS movement and the U.N.

The good news is that Israel maintains its military superiority and economic prosperity in the Middle East and its ability to deter its enemies, with its willingness and capability to independently take aggressive and deadly actions, even at the risk of escalation.

The ugly news is that there is a high probability that Iran, its proxies and the Arab world will try to develop and be willing to use chemical and nuclear weapons against Israel and the Western world. 

In the short term, Israel’s hope is that the Trump administration will abolish the Iran nuclear deal, reimpose suffocating sanctions against Iran, and if necessary be willing militarily to work with Israel to curtail the threat.  Hopefully, in the next 70 years, future American presidents will preserve and enhance the beautiful friendship and alliance between America and Israel.  Happy 70th birthday, Israel!

Shoula Romano Horing is an Israeli born and raised Attorney. Her blog: www.shoularomanohoring.com.

On March 9, 2010, Democratic Party speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”  Pelosi’s infamous words referred to the 2,300-page Affordable Care Act, now more commonly known as “Obamacare.”

Democratic leadership, anticipating voter backlash, rushed to cram their controversial health care bill through Congress before the 2010 midterm election.  Democrats were in such a hurry to send the bill to President Barack Obama, they didn’t have time to read it.

Obama signed his “legacy bill” on March 23, 2010.  Eight months later, Democrats paid a steep price at the polls.  The Tea Party shockwave that resulted is the biggest turnover election since the Great Depression.  Republicans gained 63 seats in the House of Representatives, six in the Senate, and 680 in state legislative races.

Before the historic 2010 election, the Democrats held a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and control of the House.  Since 2010, Democrats have remained the minority party in the House, and in 2014, they lost control of the Senate.  Two years later, voters put Republican Donald Trump in the White House.  After witnessing firsthand the Obamacare fiasco, voters elected Trump to “drain the swamp.”

The passage of Obamacare was a case study in D.C. swamp culture.  First, Democrats crafted the legislation behind closed doors with ample lobbyist input and special-interest involvement.  Second, Democrats did not read the bill before voting on it.  Third (and most importantly), Democrats passed Obamacare in a hasty and disingenuous manner. 

So have Republicans learned from the Obamacare debacle?  Is the swamp being drained?  Unfortunately, no.

The congressional Republicans’ $1.3-trillion omnibus spending bill epitomizes the very worst of D.C. swamp culture.  The bill heaps another massive amount of debt on America’s credit card, presumably to be paid by future generations.  The national debt now exceeds $21 trillion, and there’s no reason to believe that better, saner days lie ahead.  Despite congressional Republicans’ campaign promises to rein in spending, $1-trillion deficits are projected to return by 2022 according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Tea Party wave that thrust Republicans into power eight years ago was based on a simple notion: the U.S. government spending binge must end to avoid economic Armageddon.  Apparently, the more things change, the more things stay the same in the D.C. swamp.

In a cruel twist of irony, on March 23, 2018 (exactly eight years to the day after Obamacare was signed into law), President Donald Trump signed a 2,232-page omnibus spending bill.

Republicans claim that because they have only 51 votes in the Senate, they must increase spending to gain Democrats’ support.  This false premise serves only to justify Republicans’ fiscal irresponsibility and unwillingness to drain the swamp.

The bloated, pork-filled omnibus bill is a complete rebuke of the Republicans’ purported values of limited government and fiscal restraint.  The GOP has abandoned its position as fiscal hawks.  Republicans are now complicit with Democrats in burdening future generations with today’s wanton spending.

By passing the omnibus bill, Republicans managed to repeat all three mistakes that led to the demise of Democrats after they gambled on Obamacare.  First, Republicans crafted the bill behind closed doors and filled it with goodies to “buy votes.”  Second, there’s absolutely no way legislators read the bill in full before they voted on it.  Third, Republican leadership pressed the omnibus bill even though it violated the GOP’s core beliefs and campaign promises made to voters.

One of the big differences between those on the political left and those on the right is that Democrats tend to be outcome-oriented and Republicans generally are principle-oriented.  This does not mean that Democrats lack principles; it simply means they more likely utilize “ends justify the means” reasoning.

In 2010, 2014, and 2016, GOP voters rushed to the polls because they vehemently opposed the blatant “ends justify the means” nature of Obamacare.  To make matters worse, Democrats lost credibility with voters after Obama’s oft-repeated promise, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan,” was crowned “Lie of the Year” in 2013.

The $64,000 question is, will the voters who put the GOP in power to thwart Obama’s agenda and drain the swamp turn their ire on congressional Republicans for passing the omnibus spending legislation and failing to repeal (and replace) Obamacare?

The 2018 midterm elections will be the first bellwether of the Trump era.  The GOP has a tall task in November: can the party restore voters’ confidence that the party truly stands for limited government and fiscal sanity after the omnibus betrayal?  We’ll find out soon enough.

Chris Talgo (CTalgo@heartland.org) is an editorial assistant at The Heartland Institute and writer for Heartland’s American Exceptionalism website.  Lennie Jarratt (LJarratt@heartland.org) is a project manager for The Heartland Institute.