Yom Kippur War to Abraham Accords: How Israel changed over 50 years - opinion

On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: How many shall die and how many shall be born?

I was born on Rosh Hashanah, and as my mother was recovering from an emergency Cesarean section over Yom Kippur, an additional layer of shock overtook her as news of the war in Israel reached her. She was a staunch Zionist who had played an integral role in the aliyah of Moroccan Jews, facilitating passage to Israel through Gibraltar for sick immigrants.

That Yom Kippur, especially, Jerusalem – the city I would one day call home and be privileged to serve as a deputy mayor – was on her mind, and its name was on her lips in fervent prayer.

As I was taking my early breaths, the Jewish world was holding its collective breath, imagining the catastrophic scenario of Israel being decimated in a war that they did not see coming. The life of this national project, and the lives of every single Jew who called Israel home, were hanging in the balance.

Who shall live and who shall die? Who shall be at peace and who pursued?

On that day, Yom Kippur 50 years ago, the pleas of hazanim, mothers, and soldiers intermingled.

Fifty years ago, our Arab neighbors gathered against us, surrounding us in war with the aim of our complete annihilation. Almost 3,000 lives were sacrificed for that late victory, and thousands more were wounded. As I look back on those events in the history of our young state and great nation, I consider what has transpired in the 50 years since then in the life of Israel, my own life, and where I have been fortunate for those two to overlap.

Fifty years ago we had to guard our doorsteps for fear of our enemies’ encroachment.

Now, we are opening our doors to countries in the region that sought to eject us. I am planning my next trip to Dubai as a welcome guest.

Going from rejection and annihilation to forging regional ties

THE FIRST Israeli official to arrive in the United Arab Emirates after the signing and sealing of the Abraham Accords, I set foot on the tarmac at Dubai airport on the eve of Simhat Torah 2020 for the first meeting of our newly founded Gulf-Israel Women’s Forum – it was to be the first face-to-face meeting of Israelis and Emiratis since that pivotal White House ceremony.

Since that day, I have had the privilege of welcoming our Gulf partners to Israel and ushering in the dawn of a new era of Muslim-Jewish relations. The cold peace of 1979 with Egypt and 1994 with Jordan is no longer the template for relations between Israel and the Arab world.  

It is interesting to reflect on the evolving meaning and power of shared interests in the context of our relationships with our neighbors. Interests – some shared, and some opposing – shaped conflicts and adorned battle plans. Today, shared interests look like mutual benefit in the Middle East, rather than mitigation of harm.

Over $3 billion in trade has taken place between countries of the Abraham Accords and Israel just this year. Most tellingly, trade with Egypt and Jordan (with whom Israel has had decades of cold peace) has tripled and doubled respectively, since the signing of the Abraham Accords, largely because engaging with Israelis has become destigmatized in the wake of the agreements.

I cofounded the Israel-UAE Business Council because I knew that it would be our shared interests that would bring us together, and it will be the relationships developed through such interactions that will keep us together.

 AS WE shape this new Middle East, I cannot help but think of prime minister Golda Meir, so central to our memory of the Yom Kippur War, and how she blazed the trail for my own journey, and the journey of so many other women in Israel and the Diaspora. It is becoming ever more apparent to me that women will be the drivers of peace in this region.

In Abraham Accords countries, I see women making huge strides, serving in major leadership positions.

Ironically, it seems that the Arab world is moving forward with strategies to promote female leadership in all sectors of society, and we are going backward. In the UAE, 40% of ministers are women; in Morocco, the four major cities in the country, including its capital, are run by women; in Bahrain, almost half of the public sector’s executive positions are in the hands of women. While I grew up admiring female heads of state who inspired me to become a public servant, including Golda and former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, we have not had another Golda in Israel.

Role models are key: I am grateful to the women who inspired my dreams, the mothers of Zionism, such as Golda, Henrietta Szold, Rebecca Sieff, and Vera Weizmann. As the number of women in the Knesset regresses, we are creating a gap in the imagination of young women and girls today who cannot picture themselves in the image of a leader. Golda was the first female prime minister of Israel and only the third woman prime minister in the world at the time. Today, we must examine and rectify our shortcomings in the promotion of women leaders in Israel in general.

Today I strive to nurture female leaders, such as through a mentorship and skills building program I cofounded, FemForward, empowering women in tech in Israel and the region to aspire to top positions.

The late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz wrote that one’s birthday is their personal Rosh Hashanah and therefore a time to reflect and make resolutions. I’m lucky that such reflection is built into my Rosh Hashanah birthday, and I find myself considering how I can further contribute and commit to this nation that I serve so proudly. I know that it will involve my work with Arab states and my new friends across the Arab world, and it will involve empowering future Goldas.

WHAT DO 50 years signify? Are they an inevitable march forward?

Israel today is indeed a different country. It is powerful, prosperous, and progressive. However, if the current strife in our country is any hint, we need to earn our progress each Yom Kippur anew, sealing our commitment to our nation with efforts of unity that recall our heroes and role models who got us here.

On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed – and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: Who shall be at peace and who pursued? Who shall be humbled and who exalted?

How much can change in 50 years... I am no longer the little girl in Gibraltar, but the grooves in the rocks dotting our Jerusalem landscape are the same as they were then, and the colors at the edge of our horizon still glow at sunset.

My 50 years on this earth, while a blink in the long history of our people, have witnessed a transformative period for our region.

The transformation of our relationships with our neighbors, from the terrible war in 1973 to the optimistic partnerships of today should serve as inspiration for all that can change and for what 50 years can mean.

We are now, as we always have been, in pursuit of peace. May the desire for peace continue to exhort our nation to work together toward a shared future.

And so may it be written and sealed. 

The writer, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor for foreign relations, has just been named Israel’s first special envoy for innovation.