"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of the object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. ” — Balfour Declaration, November 1917

“We appeal — in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months — to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.” — Israeli Declaration of Independence, May 1948

The Arab Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish was honored this year with lighting a torch at the ceremony marking the end of Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the start of celebrations of the state’s 67th Independence Day on April 22. If you will, inviting an Arab woman to the center stage on Mount Herzl — Israel's national cemetery, named for the visionary of the Jewish state — symbolizes the spirit of the Balfour Declaration in recognizing the civil rights of non-Jewish groups in Israel. The consent of the brilliant young woman, who boldly displays her Arab identity, to participate in a ceremony of a clearly Zionist character symbolizes the realization of the Declaration of Independence in the full and equal citizenship of the Arab people.

The choice of an Arab woman to light a torch incenses those Jews who do not believe in equal rights and fostering good relations with the Arab minority. The right-wing organization Lehava (Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land) announced that it would hold a demonstration in Jerusalem to protest the invitation to a woman for whom “the flag with the Star of David is not her flag, the IDF is not her army, and her soul does not yearn for the hope of 2,000 years.” The word “hope” in Hebrew is “hatikvah,” which is also the title of Israel's national anthem.