Arnold Shwarzenegger was born in 1948. He could never have known then that his career as a body builder would take him to meteoric stardom as an action hero and then to political fame and fortune as Governor of California. He probably also didn’t think very much about his stately birth-year counterpart, Israel. Are there any parallels between the action hero icon come populist governor and our very own Jewish homeland?

Broadly, Shwarzeneggers Life may be split into 3 parts – The Bodybuilding Phase, The Hollywood Phase, and the Political Phase. While Arnie was training himself up, winning “Mr Universe” and having his muscles noticed, Israel was establishing itself as a major power, from the Suez campaign (1956), to the 6 day war (1967) and the Yom Kippur conflict (1973). The next phases in both their lives came in 1982 – Arnie filmed the classic Conan the Barbarian, the film that launched those enormous biceps and him to Hollywood stardom . Meanwhile, Israel was invading Lebanon and beginning its first occupation, the action of a powerful and established nation. While Yitzhak Rabin was building the blocks of the Oslo accords in 1993/4, perhaps some of Israel’s best steps towards peace, Shwarzenegger was also in his prime, filming Terminator 2, Last Action Hero and Total Recall –generally accepted as  featuring his finest on screen moments. Finally, as the second Intifada began to die in 2003, Arnie began his Political Phase as the “governator” of California. Israel meanwhile, enters its controversial phase, the disengagement, the second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead.

Ok, admittedly the link is pretty tenuous, but is there something to the fact both Israel and Arnie are maturing and changing with age? What directions are they going in, are these the directions we want to see them going in? Personally, I would quite like to see Shwarzenegger throw in his Republican towel, go back to the film career and make an artsy follow-up to Commando in which he plays an aging former US soldier suffering from Post Traumatic Stress and subtly engaging with the problems of global American militarism. Sadly, my hopes for this are not very high.

As for Israel – Corruption, greed and scandal soured the smell of barbeque on Independence Day. Ehud Olmert, former Mayor of Jerusalem, former Prime Minister, has now been implicated in his fourth corruption scandal . On the way into Jerusalem, if you look up on the hill, you will see the Holyland project, the incredibly ugly apartment blocks that, it has been alleged, Olmert received money to push through building permits and contracts. Whilst he has not been convicted, it is hard not to think that there may be no smoke without fire, and 4 separate charges speak for themselves.

Even more troubling, Prime Minister Benyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu and his cabinet (including the disreputable Avigdor Lieberman) continue to stall on the peace process, insulting President Obama and announcing the continuation of settlement building as Vice-President Joe Biden was in the country. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues and peace seems further away than it has been for a long time. Despite the unpopularity of the Prime Minister, this does not seem likely to change until the next election.

Is this the country Herzl would have wanted, as we celebrate 150 years since his birth? Is this “the light unto the nations?”. It would be easy for me to continue to moan about Israel’s poverty, or the aggressive rise of the Haredim – but this would not be constructive. Indeed, we should celebrate Israel’s achievement – it has, against all odds, survived for 62 years and established itself with a democracy of sorts. But these achievements will mean very little if corruption is allowed to run rife and conflict with Israel’s neighbours continues into the next decade. How are we to focus on Israel’s internal issues such as the failing education system, if we are spending our time, money and effort palming off the international community when they demand further steps in the peace process.

Change is a difficult thing. It requires openness, willingness to adapt and to alter ones direction, as well as willpower. Most of all, it requires a vision, a dream. Israel has lost its vision, it is stalling, waiting for the next big event before it reacts. We as Jews with more than a partial interest in the Jewish Homeland need to ask ourselves – what is our vision for Israel? Is its current direction the one that we want? We must ask ourselves as a community if blindly supporting Israel both at home and in public is really the right thing to do. Can we really just sit tight and hope that Israel will “sort itself out” and that “peace will come eventually?” Clearly, this is not how change works. We must all ask ourselves, “where do we want Israel to be?”, and most importantly, “How is it going to get there?”.