Israelis have shown remarkable resilience throughout the seven-front war, and there is much to be thankful for

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For the second consecutive year, the State of Israel is marking its Independence Day with toned-down official celebrations due to the ongoing war engulfing the nation that dwells alone but whose enemies never leave it alone.

That seems appropriate in a country mourning its fallen soldiers and civilians, and whose people are deeply divided over whether to prioritize the release of hostages or to fight Hamas to the finish, while keeping their ears open for the all too frequent air raid sirens that disrupt sleep and rattle nerves.

Nonetheless, Israelis from various backgrounds are enjoying a rare weekday off from work, sharing barbecues with family and friends, and flocking to the beaches, parks, and playgrounds. Meanwhile, many others take the vacation day to participate in one of the several daylong beis medrash programs that have become as traditional and popular on Yom Ha’atzmaut among Torah-observant Jews as they have with chareidim.

Israelis have shown remarkable resilience throughout the seven-front war, and there is much to be thankful for. According to the 2025 World Happiness Report, produced in partnership with the Gallup Poll, Israel ranks eighth among all nations. That’s a drop of three places from last year, but considering what people have endured, that’s not much of a decline.

Although the past year and a half has been filled with anguish and exhaustion, our adversaries have suffered an even greater setback. However, if anything, the aftermath of October 7 underscores that Israel’s dependence on military aid and political support from the US poses a threat to its independence.

No one should have been surprised when Ilan Goldenberg, who served as Kamala Harris’s director of Jewish outreach, admitted to Israel’s Channel 13 last week that the Biden administration sought to “trigger” elections in Israel in hopes of ousting Prime Minister Netanyahu. Israel managed to endure the almost daily pressure from the Biden administration. However, the fait accompli that President Trump presented to Bibi regarding negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program shows that he also expects Israel to be subordinate to American interests.

Iran is not Israel’s only immediate concern. Syria’s new ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who adopted the moniker Abu Mohammed Al-Julani during his affiliation with Al-Qaeda, continued his charm offensive last week when he met with two visiting members of Congress. He presented them with a letter for President Trump outlining his terms for establishing relations with the US and potentially joining the Abraham Accords. One term Al-Julani didn’t commit to in writing but conveyed verbally is his insistence that Israel return the Golan Heights to Syria.

That will be a hard sell, as President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan during his first term. However, Trump reiterated last week that his goal is to expand the Abraham Accords, and he will seriously review the contents of Al-Julani’s letter.

A Lost Independence

The view that Israel is expected to subordinate its interests to those of America is not limited to the previous two administrations. Chuck Freilich, who spent over 20 years in Israel’s national security establishment, wrote an essay in Mosaic in 2018 arguing that, but for a few rare exceptions, the dominant factor in all of Israel’s major national security decisions is how those decisions will impact US policies and national interests. Freilich’s perspective may surprise Israel bashers who claim that Israel has the US wrapped around its little finger. But Freilich told it like it is: “Far from acting in willful disregard of American national interests, Israel by now has arguably lost much of its own independence to the United States.”

Israel’s over-reliance on the US leaves it with no choice but to accept Trump’s transactional approach to foreign relations, under which new Abraham Accord signatories receive goodies from the US without Israel receiving tangible benefits.

Israel maintains longstanding relations with many Arab and Muslim countries, even if these relationships remain limited to quiet business dealings or discreet cooperation on regional security matters. Many of those countries don’t always see eye-to-eye with American interests either. Israel can be more proactive without undermining the US and leverage those existing relationships without depending on the US as an intermediary.

Sometimes, the US role is overrated.

Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the US, once told me that America’s role in facilitation always came after there had already been a meeting of the minds and an agreement in principle among the parties directly involved.

“The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty was not born in the State Department, nor was the Oslo Agreement initiated from abroad,” Shoval said. “The sides themselves began it.”

Empowering Israel

With the Trump administration actively engaging all players in the Middle East, Israel should seize the opportunity to establish ground rules to ensure it doesn’t become entangled in more cold peace deals like the ones with Egypt and Jordan, or get stuck on more one-way streets like it has with the current Abraham Accord nations, whose leaders won’t set foot in Israel and whose ambassadors continue to vote against Israel in the United Nations.

Ground rule number one is that a country must open an embassy in Jerusalem to join the roster of Abraham Accord nations. During his first term, Trump declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital. Even the Biden administration did not reverse that decision.

Ground rule number two is that a country cannot condition relations with Israel on Israeli acquiescence to a two-state solution. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have demonstrated themselves to be dangerous and untrustworthy “partners.” PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas just selected Hussein al-Sheikh as his successor. This is the same al-Sheikh who spent 11 years in Israeli prisons and was involved in the March 2002 bombing on Jerusalem’s King George Street that resulted in the deaths of three Israelis. So much for the “reformed” Palestinian Authority for which many members of the international community clamor to take control of Gaza.

Finally, the US and Israel should immediately start work on the Heritage Foundation’s plan to upgrade the US-Israel relationship. Last month, Robert Greenway, the director of the Allison Center for National Security at Heritage, told the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) that the US should expand ties with Israel, “taking the relationship from one of dependence to the kind of strategic partnership we have with our closest allies.”

Greenway’s goals include ensuring Israel’s autonomy so that it is no longer reliant on the United States for critical munitions, strengthening security and commercial ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and continuing to diminish the regional threat posed by Iran.

A strong and truly independent Israel aligns with both American and Israeli interests. Perhaps one day, most of Israel’s neighbors will understand that a strong Israel is not a threat to them, while a weak Israel drains American resources and undermines regional stability.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1059)