On May 6, Israel celebrated its 66th Independence Day. It has a turbulent region surrounding it; almost the entire Middle East is ablaze. The enemies of the Jewish state are disbanding, slaughtering each other. Either they are preoccupied with their own domestic problems or they are simply worn out. From a security standpoint, never before has Israel's situation been better off. Its military, economic, technological and scientific supremacy shines out today more than ever before. On the face of it, this should have been a relaxing, happy independence day, expressing a sense of total fulfillment and perfect victory of the Zionist dream. But for some reason, reality does not seem to coincide with this premise.

The kids who usually can be seen at almost every intersection selling Israeli flags that get mounted on car windows were left almost without any work this year. Some parts of the waning independent media debated as to why fewer and fewer people identify with the state's values and objectives.

Uzi Baram — past secretary-general of the Labor Party, former minister and a proud Zionist — wrote an article in the Israeli daily Haaretz explaining why he would not be displaying the Israeli flag this year. Something feels off on this Independence Day holiday. Israel should have gotten to the point and age where it could relax for a minute, take a deep breath and enjoy life. Instead, internal anxiety is mounting. The gaps are widening and the "tribes" making up Israeli society are drifting apart. The Israeli whole, which has always been greater than the sum of its parts, is shrinking and is in danger of becoming smaller than them.

The main reason for this disconcerting phenomenon is that Israel is losing its bearings. To put it more precisely, it is changing course. The Israel of 2014 is in a different place than where its founding fathers dreamed it would be. Sometimes it seems that the change is minuscule. All in all, the state (against all odds) exists. It is thriving and prospering. But the process of change, which was almost unnoticeable a decade or two ago, has become a fait accompli. Even the minutest change in the azimuth ultimately leads you, at the end of the road, to a much different place than the one you aspired for. Israel is undergoing constant change. "Israeliana" is fighting for its seniority, but is losing ground to "Jewishness." Pragmatism and flexibility, aspiration for regional harmony and peace are losing traction in the battle vis-a-vis messianism. Modesty has made way to hoggish appetite. Social cohesion and mutual support are capitulating to unbridled capitalism. Social gaps are swiftly widening. Reality caves in and submits to fantasy and uninhibited ambitions. In light of this, fewer people sympathize with their own state and not everyone feels happy.