The Israeli Flag Flies Everywhere

Stand for Israel  |  May 8, 2019

Israel celebrates 71 years of independence
Israel celebrates 71 years of independence

Chag Sameach! Israeli President Reuven Rivlin released a video wishing the people of Israel a happy 71st Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). In it, The Times of Israel reports, President Rivlin marveled at the growth the Jewish state has undergone in his long life in the Holy Land, and longed for the people of Israel to have a year of peace:

“Dear friends at home here in Israel and around the world. Happy Independence Day! Chag Sameach!” Rivlin said in an English-language video published on his social media accounts. “Israel is 71 years old. Who would have believed 71 years ago that we would build cities from the swamps? That roads and railways would cross the sands? Who could have imagined then the wonder that is the State of Israel?

“My dear friends, when I was a boy we were not allowed to fly our flag. But I dreamed that one day I would see it flying in Jerusalem. Today, the Israeli flag flies everywhere, and even visited space recently,” Rivlin continued, referring to the Beresheet spacecraft that an Israeli company sent to the moon but which crashed during the landing attempt…”

“Amos Oz, my school friend from Jerusalem who recently left us, reduced all the commandments to one: ‘Do not cause pain.’ This year may we all try harder to not cause pain. Israeli society needs it. We all need it,” he said.

“Let me finish with a prayer and a wish for our country to go with it for at least another seventy-one years: ‘May He who makes peace above, bring peace on us and on all the people of Israel!’” Rivlin concluded, quoting from the Jewish prayer book.