It has been a difficult year for Israel and its supporters. In the first nine months, we saw Israel almost rip itself apart over a judicial reform process that aimed to restructure how the country is governed. Then, on Oct. 7, Israel was the victim of a deadly attack by Hamas terrorists who murdered 1,200 people, and took more than 240 people to Gaza as hostages. The subsequent war with Hamas claimed the lives of many young Israeli soldiers and innocent citizens of Gaza.

Although now mostly forgotten, in 2023 Israel celebrated its milestone 75th birthday. It was on May 14, 1948 that David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel into existence at a ceremony in Tel Aviv. All photographs and film clips of the event are in black and white, which is how many of us are feeing right now- dark. 

So let’s finish off the year with some colour, with the hope that 2024 is a better year for Israel.

Yaacov Agam, now 95, created this colourful version of Israel’s Declaration of Independence ceremony. Agam is one of Israel’s most famous artists and is best known for his kinetic art and three-dimensional paintings and sculptures.

Agam once said: “In life you look at art and it doesn’t change, but everything changes, but you don’t know how it will change, so you have to go beyond the visible. You have to get the notion that what you see can at any moment disappear to be replaced with something else.”

We certainly learned this year that things change dramatically and that important things can disappear.  I hope we also learned that we must continue to work hard to preserve the things we hold dear, and when things do change, we must ensure they are replaced with something better.  

That ongoing work is my New Year’s resolution.  What is yours?