This Independence Day I’m not going to fly the flag. I’m not going to gush over Israel as a modern-day miracle. Despite my deep attachment to Israel and its people, if Israel had a flag that looked different upside down, I would wave it upside-down as a sign of distress.

I grew up in an intensely Zionist home in Los Angeles. We celebrated Israel’s Independence Day walking 18 kilometers each year, raising money for the state. I spent every summer at a Zionist summer camp and spent my college years counter-demonstrating against students who called into question Israel’s right to exist. When I immigrated to Israel in 1992, I took pride in every visitor I could bring, every bit of taxes I paid in support of the country. I studied, served in the army and the reserves, married, and had children (two of whom served in combat units). I reveled in Israel’s achievements. I was a proud Israeli abroad.

But that pride has been battered, if not broken, and waving the flag this week would signal the denial of the unacceptable crimes perpetrated by our citizens.

Each day in the West Bank, our citizens – Israeli citizens – set out from their unauthorized hilltop trailers to attack men, women, and children whose land they covet and whose presence they reject. They are, according to........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)