Every time I've visited Israel, I've been unsettled by the ubiquitous presence of young men and women carrying assault rifles, slung over their shoulders as they go about the regular business of taking a bus, hanging out at a cafe, etc. I don't like rifles, and it's hard to get past the feeling that something isn't quite right when there are so many guns, handled with such familiarity.
Today, Israel commemorates its war dead: the soldiers, police officers, bus drivers, and passers-by killed in the course of the last nearly 100 years since Jews became a noticeable factor in the area now known as Israel. This is a day of regret, not celebration. Another country - virtually every other country - would have erected an triumphal arch somewhere to justify the war dead; but not Israel. Today, names will be read, photographs shared; stories told, about individuals whose loss forms a nearly unbearable sacrifice for the Israelis.
In a sense, this is a holiday for the Israelis alone; but there was an incident last year that highlighted a point that is often forgotten: in the wake of the Jostein Gaarder controversy, Miryam Shomrat - Israel's ambassador to Norway and Iceland - spoke up about the official Norwegian reaction to a shooting at the synagogue in Oslo, wondering why the Norwegian royal family couldn't make an appearance at the synagogue to show some solidarity for their Jewish subjects. After all, she pointed out, the community offers its prayers on behalf of the Royal Family at every service (in Norwegian, everything else is in Hebrew); how about a little reciprocity?
The Jewish community in Oslo found it necessary to draw a sharp line, pointing out that Israel does not speak for Norwegian Jews. Shomrat apologized for the gaffe, people bristled a bit longer, and the issue died down.
What wasn't said - because it probably would have put more fuel to the fire - was that Israel does not exist only for Israelis. If - heaven forbid - conditions became unbearable for Jews in Norway, Israel would see it as its responsibility to help and if necessary rescue them. By whatever means necessary.
So although Shomrat in a narrow legal sense acts as a representative for Israel and its citizens in Norway (and Iceland), in a broader moral sense she acts on behalf of the only country in the world that will consistently and unfailingly act on behalf of Jews. Where the Jewish community in Oslo feels pressure to keep a low profile, emphasize its allegiance, and distance itself from any formal association with Israel; Israel can address the Norwegian government as an equal, on behalf of Jews everywhere.
It follows that Yom haZikaron is relevant not just for Israelis past, present, and future; but for all Jews. They may not buy that, or appreciate it, but Israelis will tell you it doesn't much matter. They'll put themselves between the enemy and their people, anyway.
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