A Day to Remember

Happy Fourth of July!

Arguably the most memorable U.S. Independence Day celebration in recent history was that of 1976, the 200th anniversary of our nation’s founding. For New Yorkers, the thrill of the day was crowned by Operation Sail, the majestic parade of tall ships into the harbor, passed the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson River.

Gilda and I missed it all. We were out of the country. But don’t be disappointed for us. We were witness instead to perhaps the most delirious, wondrous celebration of all—the return of the hostages to Israel from the raid on Entebbe (just in case you’re too young to remember the details, here’s a Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe).

Part one of our vacation was to culminate that morning with a flight from Ben Gurion Airport to Rome. Our Israeli friends Yakov and Chaya drove us to the airport but it was nearly impossible to gain entry, even with Yakov’s military pass. It seemed half the country had converged on the site to welcome home the 103 rescued hijacked Air France hostages and the 100 Israeli commandos who miraculously freed them at the Ugandan airport while suffering only five injuries and one death, that of Jonathan Netanyahu, brother of the current Israeli prime minister.

Regrettably, we couldn’t stay too long to enjoy the moment. Before boarding our flight I bought an Israeli newspaper and haltingly deciphered some of the mission details for Gilda. In Rome we marveled at the headlines and pictures describing the rescue in the Italian newspapers. We felt very proud—proud to be Jewish. Proud to be American. Proud to be part of two democracies that have stood up against tyranny.

Lots of water has flowed over the proverbial dam during these last 34 years. The Iran hostage crisis. Intifadas. Lebanon. Iraq. 9/11. Al-Qaeda. Afghanistan. Gaza. Somalia. Serbia. Croatia. Too many wars, too many battles, too many disappointments, and too many points of contention between Israel and the United States. It is not easy being optimistic. I think I’m hot-wired as a journalist to be pessimistic, cynical, on public events. But I still must believe that for all their differences, Israel and the United States will find common resolution to their individual and joint problems. They do, after all, share the joy each year of July 4.