We are living the event itself – without distance, without perspective – dizzy on an emotional roller coaster. In an instant, we were taken from the Knesset’s humiliating pettiness of a few days ago – busy with childish and vindictive boycotts, trading coarse and primitive insults – to the uplift of historic days in which the Zionist ethos is being reshaped.

The Israeli nation is rising with resolve, courage, and wisdom, indeed like a lion, above the heads of those who seek to kill it. A new chapter in Israel’s history is being written in our own hand. Of course, it is still too early to sum it up; the war has only just begun.

We are forced to hold contradictory emotions: oscillating between pride in the army’s astonishing capabilities, which have positioned Israel as an unrivaled regional power, and the frightening reality of huddling in shelters while missiles and drones swarm the skies seeking our lives – sometimes with deadly success, as happened in Sunday’s devastating direct hit in Beit Shemesh. Still, Israelis understand the need to pay an immediate, sometimes heavy, personal price to secure the country for generations to come.

That uniquely Israeli spirit was on full display on the streets of Tel Aviv on Friday. That morning, the US ambassador urged nonessential embassy staff to leave the country, warning that war could be imminent. Yet, undeterred by the specter of conflict with Israel’s most formidable enemy, more than 50,000 runners – joined by tens of thousands of cheering spectators – took to the streets for the city’s marathon in a feel-good carnival atmosphere.

On HaYarkon Street, where the embassy’s large compound sits and from which employees evacuated, a healthy, optimistic, vibrant crowd surged past. Those moments highlighted the opposite phenomena: a hurried “exit from Israel” by representatives of the global superpower (a prudent move to protect nonessential personnel) and, next to it, the Israeli public’s “sumud” – its steadfast attachment to the land. The runners were not privy to the IDF’s brilliant planning, but they carried themselves with a justified confidence in our capabilities.

None of this should obscure our concern for a vital asset of national security: the alliance with the United States. The whole world is watching the US military fight wing-to-wing alongside the IDF at an unprecedented level of cooperation. This real and psychological force multiplier demonstrates the shared interests and mutual commitment between the global superpower and the regional one. And yet, at the same time, it emerged just days ago that more Americans sympathize with the Palestinians (41%) than with Israel (36%). Among those under 34, the gap in the Palestinians’ favor is enormous, up to a 30-point advantage.

Is the current joint campaign destined to strengthen the US-Israel alliance, or weaken it?

Optimism is permitted – and warranted. The high-tech, start-up nation continues to be the world’s most attractive arena outside the United States for the industries of the future. The flow of investment in Israeli companies and R&D centers continues to cross the Atlantic and settle into Israel’s tiny geographic waistline. Between one missile and the next, India’s prime minister – leader of a rising superpower – arrives to forge “special” strategic ties, with enormous economic dividends alongside them.

I was told of a visit by the very senior leadership of one of America’s corporate giants to Israel during the Gaza campaign. Walking the streets of Tel Aviv, they heard the siren warning of incoming rockets. Like everyone else, they lay down on the pavement on Rothschild Boulevard. When they got up and brushed themselves off, they made it clear this posed no threat to their continued investment here: “You Israelis function better in wartime than most countries do in peacetime.” American business leaders invest rationally, and they are optimistic.

This Purim, the verse from Esther – “the tables were turned, and the Jews overpowered those who hated them” – is not a distant echo of exile, but a precise description of our present. For 2,000 years, Jews were focused on remembrance: “Remember what Amalek did to you.” In sovereignty – and especially this year – remembrance is no longer passive. It is translated into action. The Amalek of our generation is learning this the hard way.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)