This was the week in which we Israelis traditionally experiece the devastating lows of the remenbrance of our fallen, and the exhilirating highs of celebrating yet another year of Jewish statehood. But this year, we couldn’t even concentrate. The country was on fire.

The missile alerts that got us out of bed at 5:30 AM on Memorial Day became barely a blip on our consciousness when the horrifying news of the major firefires outside Jerusalem were reported. Instead of watching videos on the fallen heroes whose sacrifices keep us safe and free in our own homeland, we were forced to watch the unbelievable live video feeds of cars on the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv being licked by gigantic flames from a forest fire that threatened to destroy numerous towns and villages and lay waste to vast areas of beloved farmland and recreational areas. In the end, many cars were abandoned as the passengers fled for their lives on foot.

The bravery of 125 teams of firefighters from all over the country, together with pilots dropping the distinctive pink flame retardent over the fires captured our attention, putting our traditional ways of mourning and celebration into the background. Instead, we added the loss of 20,000 acres of precious forest to our mourning, and celebrated the truly miraculous fact that not a single home, or a single person, was lost to the fires.

How these fires started, is still being investigated. Posts on social media encouraging Israeli Arabs to start fires were circulating, and perhaps there was arson. But certainly in the end, it was the sizzling hot, dry weather and fierce winds which made the devastation possible. When at the end of Memorial Day the weather cooled down and there was even some rain, people had another reason to rejoice.

My own Independence Day plans consisted of preparing a picnic with my son and his family to take up to the Golan Heights where my granddaughter, an IDF officer, is serving. All this was abruptly cancelled when the barbaric jihadis now in charge of Syria (by world consensus!) started attacking the large Syrian Druze community. Israel is in a committed, brotherly relationship with the Druze, whose members have fought and died side by side with us to protect the land of Israel. Just last night, Israel carried out an air strike near the Presidential Palace in Damascus, a warning to Syria’s new jihadist regime to keep its hands off the Druze.

Because of the tensions in Syria, my granddaughter’s few hours of leave on Independence Day were cancelled, and she wound up spending 48 hours straight at her post. Our picnic is still uneaten. Anyone interested in a watermelon, lots of cucumbers, dred peppers and carrots, and an apple cake?

Still, despite the distractions, let us not forget the many things we are and should be grateful for as we celebrate the 77th year of Israel’s independence. From Yediot Acharonot:

“The resounding slap that Israel received on October 7th came as a surprise. What happened in the months that followed, in a certain sense, was no less bad: Israel became a bullied kid, whose friends also got bullied. Ten days after the massacre, German Chancellor Olaf Schulz and his entourage were photographed lying face down on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport because of alarms over Hamas rocket fire. What an arsenal Hamas had, what self-confidence! Sinwar probably assumed that eventually that same Chancellor would impose restrictions on arms exports to Israel!

“Many months passed. Hamas got bloodied, but in the north we were on the verge of defeat. Nasrallah felt so confident at the time that he threatened: ‘An invasion of the Galilee is an issue that remains on the agenda if the conflict develops. The enemy is hiding the losses on the northern front, but has not been able to hide the number of evacuees. Forty-two communities were completely evacuated. The Lebanese front has disrupted agriculture, industry and tourism in the north.’

Nasrallah felt so confident that, for the first time in the history of the Middle East conflict, he threatened a member of the European Union: ‘We have information that Israel is using airports in Cyprus for training, they will use these fields in the event of war. If Cyprus allows this, it will be part of the war.’ Not only did the EU do nothing, but Cyprus hurried to disavow the claim that it was helping Israel. The growing Israeli community in Cyprus, there for reasons of personal security, discovered that, unfortunately, there is no place where one can feel completely safe.

A year has passed. Limassol is intact, but Dahieh [N.R. Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut suburbs] is in ruins. The air force still takes off from Cyprus, but the Nasrallah posters have long since been removed from Beirut airport. Flights carrying cash from Iran are not allowed to land.

On the eve of this Independence Day, fireworks went off in the evacuated nothern town of Kiryat Shmona as well. Most of the residents have already returned, and the vast majority of those remaining in the center will return by September 1.

Hamas still stings our troops, but it has almost no long-range rockets, nor leadership. The logistical rearguard that the world provided it with in the form of arms embargoes that almost succeeded in emptying Israel’s warehouses [N.R. until Trump was elected] has already shrunk and almost disappeared. The arrest warrants against the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense are crumbling. In the United States and Germany much friendlier administrations have a risen, and the rest of the world is thawing. Beyond the agonizing debate over hostages in the face of war, or the discussion about attacking Iran, one can see that in the 77th year of its independence, Israel has regained its strength, and so have a significant number of its citizens.”

This war is not finished. Brave Israeli soldiers continue to fall in battle in the southern Gazan Strip. Yaly Seror, 20, from Omer and Noam Ravid, 23, from Shaarei Tikva both from Yahalom Unit, Combat Engineering Corps, were killed by explosives from a tunnel shaft. While the house and tunnel had been preliminarily scanned before they entered, the explosive was tragically not detected. Around 5:30 PM, it exploded inside the shaft, killing the two fighters and wounding two others who were evacuated for medical treatment in serious and moderate condition.

Since the resumption of fighting in the Gaza Strip, 6 fighters have fallen in battles.

My grandson, a reservist, also serves in this unit. New call-ups of thousands of reservists have gone out, and a major new attempt to destroy Hamas is already on the drawing boards. It is hinted that the troop movement will take place following a Trump visit to the area. I think of my newlywed grandson who spent months in Gaza and Lebanon. Will he too be called up? And how will I bear it? How will any of us bear it?

Douglas Murray, the outspoken champion of Israel from England, very rightly recently said that Israel is not in post-trauma. We are all in trauma.

Despite American efforts, the Houthis continue to fire their ballistic missiles at us. Today, for the first time, a missile landed in Ben Gurion airport, near Terminal 3! A few people sustained minor injuries. Under American pressure, Israel agreed to dispense with its retaliation against the Houthis. But whatever America is doing, thank you very much, it’s not enough. Time for Israel to rethink this strategy.

We are a nation in trauma. A nation of courageous, brave, smart, loving, kind, charitable good-hearted, loyal citizens.  May those who stand openly with us at this time, be blessed.

And may those who use their power to aid our enemies know only curses from this moment forward until the day they die.

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