Spending Less on Israel's Independence Day Cellebrations

Fireworks may be the last holdout of government spending in independence day celebration, Israelis prefer government spending on more practical and realistic social programs

Israelis want local and state government to spend less on independence day celebrations. The days of soviet style military parades and folk dancing in public squares are long lost memories. Most Israelis today remember the patriotic showmanship as children or stories from old relatives. Israel is no longer the state of patriotic struggles and socialist idealism. The issue of independence day celebration is even rearing it's head in the political discussions. Just two days ago, Ha'Aretz, Israel's mainstream daily, reported on a comment made by Benyamin Netanyahu, the somewhat misunderstood prime minister. According to a short article, Netanyahu commented on this year's celebrations and reminisced on the military parades of his youth. Apparently the newspaper decided to spin the story as his desire to "bring back" military parades. Realistically, most Israelis take this kind of reporting as political jabs. The days of parading tanks and marching soldiers are faded memories. Yet these stories, truthful, honest or fictional, still make the headlines. It is a sign of changes in the Israeli press, a sign of not only ridicule in the face of out of touch government. While Netanyahu's perspective of Israel as a regional military and economic powerhouse fits well with optimism, his comments on showing power as a sign of strength seems to be taken as a joke. That is a change in attitude, maybe for the better.