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Toward the Next 60 Years
by Amos Schocken
- If there is one minister in the government of Israel who does not sing the national anthem, then perhaps the national anthem should be re-examined.
- The fulfillment of a dream is not a reason to replace an anthem, but "Hatikva" has an obvious practical disadvantage: It addresses only Jews.
- The act of singing the national anthem is an expression of solidarity with other citizens and with the state.
- This is an opportunity that is denied the Arabs of Israel, who make up one fifth of the population, and it is clear that the losers are both the state and its Jewish citizens.
- But when we think about the relations between Jews and Arabs during the next 60 years, it is clear there is still a great deal of work to be done.
- And if by its 60th Independence Day Israel were to adopt a new national anthem, it will have taken an important symbolic step for the future of relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel. (Ha'aretz)
See also Israel's National Anthem - Hatikva (Jewish Virtual Library)
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Perhaps We'll Cancel the Flag?
by Nadav Shragai
- Those who are bothered by "Hatikva" because the Arab citizens of Israel are not able to identify with it are actually seeking a much deeper change, not merely something symbolic.
- They do not accept Zionism as a super-ideology and the definition of the State of Israel as a Jewish state and the state of the Jewish people.
- "Hatikva," which is supposed to be old-fashioned and archaic, is today more relevant than ever.
- We come from the land of Zion and Jerusalem and we are going there. That is the essence of the history of the Jewish people since it went into exile and returned to its land, whose basis is Zion - Jerusalem.
- It is still relevant because its lines manage to include even today a broad common denominator of the Jewish public, or as Natan Alterman put it, the Jewish point.
- No one will respect our Jewish roots and our unique position here if we ourselves do not respect them. (Ha'aretz)
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