265. Israel has lost its conscience 

Israel celebrated its 78th Independence Day yesterday, April 21, with the usual torch-lighting ceremony at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl. Dignitaries and flag-waving spectators gathered in the temporary stadium. The official theme of the ceremony was “Forces of Renewal,” but in reality, the event marked the embrace of genocide as the nation’s official spirit.

Argentine President Javier Milei joined them and was chosen to light a torch at the ceremony — the first time a foreign leader has received this honor. Although present at the event, Netanyahu delivered a pre-recorded video speech. 

“Israel is stronger than ever, and alongside the United States, we are leading the fight against the forces of evil worldwide. Enemies have risen up in every generation to try to destroy the Jewish people, but in the generation of revival, Israel rises up against our enemies. The Iranian axis of evil, which plotted to destroy us, is now fighting for its very survival. In the War of Revival, we smashed major parts of Iran’s axis,” Netanyahu bragged.

He remembered Donald Trump and stated that Israel's relationship with the US reached new heights under his administration.

Two IDF officers, the mother of a late former hostage, a soldier who lost both legs and an arm, a chef known for cooking for Israeli forces, a doctor, a venture capitalist, a Jewish judicial official, and Israel Prize-winning filmmaker Moshe Edri lit the torch at the ceremony.

However, what drew global attention was the decision to honor the controversial reservist Abraham Zarbiv, a rabbi and state rabbinical judge who has called for flattening the Gaza Strip and rebuilding Israeli settlements there. He was one of 14 people chosen for their “extraordinary contribution to society and the state.”

He gained prominence through videos that chronicled his personal campaign of destruction in Gaza, leading his name to become part of Hebrew slang; the phrase “To Zarbiv” now signifies to destroy.

Last year, he boasted of demolishing 50 homes per week in Gaza. “They have nothing to return to in Rafah and Jabalya … tens of thousands of families have no papers, childhood photos, ID cards, or homes. They have nothing.”

Israel’s military and civilian contractors have extensively destroyed Gaza, leaving towns and cities in ruins. Additionally, critical civilian infrastructure, such as schools, hospitals, mosques, cemeteries, and shops, has been targeted. This is now termed a new war crime: “domicide.”

But this is not the first case. Just three days ago, an image circulating on social media showed an Israeli soldier using a sledgehammer to strike the head of a statue of a crucified Jesus that had fallen from its cross in a Christian village in southern Lebanon near the Israel border. The statue investigation found that six other troops were present at the scene and did not intervene or report the incident.

Christians are estimated to make up around a third of Lebanon’s population of roughly 5.5 million people. 

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia said, “I want to remind Netanyahu that Jesus himself visited southern Lebanon. However, Jesus did not go there to kill; he came to multiply bread, heal, and perform miracles, not to cause destruction."

A friend has shared an article by Daniel Orenstein, a professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Titled “Not flying the flag this Independence Day,” the article raises questions for which the present administration has no answers. Here is the full post –

“This Independence Day, I’m not going to fly the flag. I’m not going to gush over Israel as a modern-day miracle. Despite my deep attachment to Israel and its people, if Israel had a flag that looked different upside down, I would wave it upside down as a sign of distress. 

I grew up in an intensely Zionist home in Los Angeles. We celebrated Israel’s Independence Day by walking 18 kilometers each year to raise money for the state. I spent every summer at a Zionist summer camp and spent my college years counter-demonstrating against students who called into question Israel’s right to exist. When I immigrated to Israel in 1992, I took pride in every visitor I could bring, every bit of taxes I paid in support of the country. I studied, served in the army and the reserves, married, and had children (two of whom served in combat units). I reveled in Israel’s achievements. I was a proud Israeli abroad. 

But that pride has been battered, if not broken, and waving the flag this week would signal the denial of the unacceptable crimes perpetrated by our citizens. 

Each day in the West Bank, our citizens – Israeli citizens – set out from their unauthorized hilltop trailers to attack men, women, and children whose land they covet and whose presence they reject. According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, they are a “handful of kids… about 70 children from broken homes.” Yet they have been burning cars, assaulting residents and activists, destroying olive trees, and stealing sheep with impunity. That “handful of kids” somehow continues to escape justice, even when their actions are clearly documented, while police and soldiers stand by. 

This occurs because the violence is not an aberration; it persists due to state tolerance. No arrests are made. 

Israel’s security services should have made those arrests. Some of the world’s most capable security services fail to act against “70 children from broken homes” who terrorize their Palestinian neighbors. Sustained and highly visible violence should not be able to evade enforcement, but it somehow does. It’s not incompetence; it is selective non-enforcement (or worse). 

It is not coincidental that several of the country’s main security services (the army, the police, Mossad, and Shin Bet) are now headed by Netanyahu appointees, widely criticized for prioritizing political loyalty over professional independence. 

As such, the Netanyahu government has secured political discipline across the security services. With the Shin Bet and Mossad appointments, the pattern is clear: leaders brought in from outside, with limited intelligence experience and close political alignment. The Shin Bet’s David Zini has already, in his first year on the job, provided Netanyahu with a letter excusing him from attending his corruption trial – a letter the previous head would not have provided. Regarding Israeli violence directed toward Palestinians in the West Bank, Zini reportedly changed the Shin Bet’s official reference to their acts from “terrorism” to “friction.” 

The security services, of course, are beholden to the government. The politicization of professional roles is systemic, not only in the security services but across the civil service: political appointments and pressure on professional civil servants, often smeared as “deep state,” are a hallmark of this government’s illiberal agenda. 

Despite massive public opposition and nearly three years of war, the government continues to aggressively pursue divisive policies and to attempt to circumvent Netanyahu’s corruption trials. It continues to incite against large segments of the population (those protesting corruption and defending democratic norms), labeling them “traitors.” Government ministers incite against judges, legal advisors, former army officers, and media personalities, and coddle violent activists who harass individuals to silence them (often the same actors working to protect Palestinians from settler violence). These actions tear apart Israeli society, fuel anti-Israel sentiment globally, and deepen our isolation. 

To wave the flag this Independence Day would be to ignore the country’s slide into a militant and increasingly illiberal and rogue state. 

What I describe here is an assault on a set of values shared by Israelis and Jews worldwide. There is a path to preserving Israel as a democratic, Jewish state. It requires political support to install a government committed to equality, the rule of law, and the pursuit of peace and coexistence. It should also respect professional civil servants, seek diplomatic solutions, and protect the independence of the media, judiciary, and universities. These are Zionist and universal principles that transcend the right-left divide. 

Celebration is not a default on Independence Day; it is earned. When the “handful of kids” terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank are arrested and jailed, and government ministers stop enabling them, I will again be able to wave the flag. When Israel returns to its commitments to democracy, equality, and the rule of law, it will once again be a country worth celebrating.” 

(Courtesy The Times of Israel, where the article was first published on April 21, 2026)

B’tselem, the rights organization, correctly pointed out that selecting Zarbiv for the ceremony signifies an official endorsement of dehumanizing and systematically destroying Palestinian lives. This decision clearly communicates to the international community that genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes are regarded as integral to Israel’s national identity.

A country that honors someone who embodies Gaza’s destruction demonstrates that it views him as a symbol of the nation. Israel has lost its moral compass, direction, and conscience.

The most recent example of Israel's forces' cruelty was observed today. Journalist Amal Khalil and photographer Zeinab Faraj were reporting on events near al-Tayri in southern Lebanon when an Israeli attack struck the vehicle ahead of them. They sought shelter in a nearby house, which was subsequently also hit by Israeli fire. They were killed while rescuers were prevented from reaching the building where both were trapped under the rubble due to ongoing Israeli gunfire.

Israel has demonstrated that it is the leading cause of harm to media personnel who help uphold the world's conscience. In the past two years, the IDF has killed more journalists than in the record for an entire decade.