Ambassador Alan Baker was born in 1948, the same year as the state of Israel—although, as he notes with a smile, he’s a few months older. Each winter, he celebrates his birthday, and then in the spring, the birthday of the country he proudly calls home.
Baker moved to Israel from the United Kingdom with a strong Zionist mission and a desire to “contribute something” to a nation he felt had been built through the sweat and sacrifice of its founders. What he couldn’t have predicted as a young lawyer was that he would one day become a military prosecutor and senior legal adviser in the Israeli military, represent the Ministry of Defense at international conferences, and help negotiate peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinians.
“Like Forrest Gump, I found myself in situation after situation—where I was defending the state of Israel,” Baker told The Media Line.
This week, as Israel marks its 77th Independence Day, The Media Line spoke with Baker and six other immigrants to Israelis—known in Hebrew as olim, Jews who moved to the country from around the world—to reflect on what this moment means to them. With the country still reeling from the horrors of October 7 and engaged in an ongoing war with Hamas, this year’s celebration carries added weight. How do those who chose to build their lives in Israel view its independence today? What message would they offer fellow immigrants, native-born Israelis, and the international community?
For Baker, the message is clear: Israel has not only survived, it has succeeded.
“At 77, the country has established itself,” he said. “Those who claim it has failed are wrong.”
Baker recalled the fierce anti-Israel demonstrations in London during his student years in the late 1960s, just after the Six-Day War. Back then, he was already pushing back against the hostility aimed at the Jewish state. “For me,” he said, “protests in the streets are nothing new.”
But he said the state must now move beyond its defensive posture and step into its full strength as an independent nation.
What we have to do now is display our independence—by being assertive, claiming our rights, not needing to apologize, and indicating to the world that we are not prepared to submit to manipulation.
“The only problem is that Israel has always tried to make itself understood to the international community by basically apologizing for what we have done and what we are going to do. This is a huge mistake,” he explained. “What we have to do now is display our independence—by being assertive, claiming our rights, not needing to apologize, and indicating to the world that we are not prepared to submit to manipulation.”
Baker spoke to The Media Line on the eve of Israeli Memorial Day, as the country mourned the 319 soldiers killed since last year, along with 61 disabled veterans who died from service-related injuries. Since 1860, when the Jewish community began counting its fallen, 25,420 have died defending the land.
As somber remembrance gives way to national celebration, Memorial Day comes to a close and Independence Day arrives once again—a symbol of resilience, renewal, and hope. Many of the immigrants interviewed by The Media Line described the enduring power of that hope and the complex pride they feel for a country that is still fighting for its future.
When people asked me why I was moving to a country that had so many problems, I’d say, “But they’re my problems.”
“When people asked me why I was moving to a country that had so many problems, I’d say, ‘But they’re my problems,’” recalled Simon Plosker, editorial director of the media watchdog organization HonestReporting.
Plosker moved to Israel from the UK 24 years ago. Today, he has spent more of his life in Israel than in his country of birth.
“In a strange way, having the need and ability to solve myriad problems that Israel faces concerning our security, economy, and all manner of religious and societal issues is the epitome of exercising our independence as the only Jewish state in the world,” Plosker said.
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He added that pro-Israel advocacy work has given him a sense of “how dependent we are on the actions of others.” “Maybe it’s the Americans supplying us with weapons and political support or international bodies unfairly judging us for defending ourselves, but it doesn’t always feel like we are in full control of our destiny,” he said.
Former intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, who moved to Israel from America a few years ago, was even more direct: Israel, he said, is not truly independent.
“Whether we look at it materially or emotionally or intellectually, the one thing that I’ve been really scared about in this country since coming home is the degree of subservience many of our leaders have exhibited towards the United States in particular, and to a secondary degree, to world opinion,” he said. “I can understand Israel, perhaps being materially dependent on the United States. But I absolutely reject the existence of a subservience [to America] in the minds of many Israelis, whether they’re actually decision makers or just common citizens.”
Pollard argued that Israel has the capability to stand on its own, especially in matters of security—it simply chooses not to.
“If we want to be independent in terms of our national security, we can do that, and the Americans actually wouldn’t mind us doing that,” he told The Media Line. “The problem is, I don’t know how we’re going to dispense with the subservient mentality that we suffer from. Many times, when I’ve proposed policies or plans that are at variance or in opposition to American dictates, I’m chastised by saying: ‘How in the world can you possibly dare to oppose the United States?’ Well, I can because I’m an Israeli, where we should be an independent country.”
He noted that Israel already has the symbols and infrastructure of a sovereign nation—an army, a flag, a national anthem, and a parliament—and that it should use them fully or risk losing its independence in practice.
Plosker added: “I think October 7 has taught us never to take this remarkable country for granted. While we’ve had the privilege of celebrating 77 independence days so far, the fight for an independent, sovereign Jewish state clearly hasn’t yet been won. Maybe true independence will only come when Israel is treated as an equal among the nations, and we can go about the business of building the state without having to worry about others questioning its existence or trying to wipe it off the map.”
For Tania Mazarsky, a member of Knesset for Yesh Atid who moved to Israel from the USSR as a teenager, reflecting on the response to the October 7 attacks shines a light on what makes Israeli society special.
“Those who rose to action were volunteers, civilians—even before the official systems responded. They got up, they rushed to save people, evacuate the wounded,” she said. “Until the system began to operate and provide aid, it was the citizens and civil organizations that organized themselves and began helping—both physically and emotionally. It was incredible. It happened so quickly. And that’s the beauty of Israeli society—citizens working for one another.”
Democracy and freedom—we must protect them. Because if we’re not a democratic state, we will cease to exist. We must protect those values.
She called attention to the relatively young age of the state of Israel. “We, the people, have a rich historical past, but the state is only 77 years old. There is so much ahead of us, many challenges, and most importantly—the principles upon which the state was founded,” she said. “Democracy and freedom—we must protect them. Because if we’re not a democratic state, we will cease to exist. We must protect those values.”
One way Israel has changed since its founding is how many more women are now in positions of power.
“From my perspective, the more women at the top, the more female leaders we have—the more we’ll accomplish,” Mazarsky said.
Like other Israelis, many immigrants to Israel are especially moved by Israel’s commemoration of Independence Day immediately after remembering the country’s fallen soldiers and victims of terror.
Few nations on earth understand and appreciate the cost of independence, of sovereignty, than the people of Israel. Few people on earth understand the price of not having a state—and the price of having one.
“Few nations on earth understand and appreciate the cost of independence, of sovereignty, than the people of Israel,” said Dan Feferman, also originally from America. “Few people on earth understand the price of not having a state—and the price of having one.”
More than most, he said, Israelis feel that reality this year deeply.
“We are cursed and blessed here in this little country that we do not have the luxury of taking our independence for granted,” Feferman said.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, who moved to Israel from Gibraltar and serves as a special envoy for the Foreign Ministry, highlighted the importance of combating internal divisions within Israeli society. “We need to ensure we have a plan and strategy for continuing to grow together, celebrating and facilitating the mosaic that our country is, finding space for each other and really, truly getting to build a shared society,” she said.
Mazarsky highlighted the difficulty of celebrating independence while dozens of hostages remain in Gaza.
“True independence will come with the return of the hostages. Only then will there be complete and real joy,” she said.
Amid the pain, many of the immigrants interviewed expressed optimism regarding Israel’s future. Several noted that the nation was fighting on more fronts last year and facing harsher opposition from the international community and even the Biden administration.
We’ve taken out the missile defenses of Iran. We’ve hammered Hamas, and we don’t hear much from Hezbollah now.
“This year, we saw that God went before us in battle,” said Josh Reinstein, an immigrant from the US and the president of the Israel Allies Foundation, an organization that fosters Jewish-Christian faith-based diplomacy for Israel. “We’ve taken out the missile defenses of Iran. We’ve hammered Hamas, and we don’t hear much from Hezbollah now.”
He added the US has sanctioned the International Criminal Court and stopped funding the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. “We have US President Trump in the White House, which gives a sense of optimism that anything really is possible in the new emerging Middle East,” he said.
Looking toward Independence Day, Reinstein said his outlook is hopeful.
“I feel excited, and I think that the future is very bright,” he said.
Gabriel Colodro contributed to this report.