JERUSALEM — Seventy years since the day of Israel’s founding, wildly contrasting images of victory and violence showcased the contradictions that bedevil the Jewish state. But in Israel, it is difficult to escape the effects of the 50-year occupation of Palestinian territories captured in 1967. In Israel’s cultural and financial heartland, neither the Jerusalem embassy nor the Gaza carnage was even mentioned. Barzilai’s victory, propelled by a European popular vote, was celebrated as proof that Israel could overwhelm those seeking to boycott it over its conflict with the Palestinians. Monday’s split-screen images captured much of what still plagues Israel: a conflict with no end in sight and two opposing domestic camps trying to ignore it.

Source: National Post May 15, 2018 17:26 UTC