Reports of an impending visit to Israel by a US secretary of state should normally give cause for diplomatic delight, highlighting as they do the strong and profound bilateral relationship that exists between the two countries.

As perennial allies with shared values and common strategic and national interests, it is only natural that a huddle by senior American and Israeli officials would be expected to bolster the bonds of fraternity.

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Israel's new governing coalition has yet to be sworn in, but that has not stopped the opposition from seeking to delegitimize and even demonize it before it is formally assembled.

Hurling vitriol that goes far beyond any semblance of civilized debate, various public figures run the risk of severely damaging the very same democracy that they claim so ardently they want to defend. This not only threatens to exacerbate divisions within Israeli society, but it could also undermine the very pillars of our political system.

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The Jerusalem Post turns 90 years young this week, as it celebrates the day back in 1932 when an ardent Zionist, Gershon Agron, along with a group of other visionaries, began publishing an English-language broadsheet in pre-state Israel.

This was no small feat given the economic conditions at the time, the oppressive British occupation of the Land of Israel and surging Palestinian Arab violence and hostility.

But it was precisely those circumstances which made the paper, known back then as The Palestine Post, such a crucial force in helping to shape the narrative of the region.

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Here's a news item you may have missed which is as revealing as it is risible.

This past Monday, a young Israeli woman named Ofir Dayan visited the Temple Mount. Moved by the experience of setting foot on the site where Jews had longed to return for 19 centuries, she burst into song, proudly offering up a rendition of "Hatikvah," Israel's national anthem.

But as patriotism poured forth from her vocal cords in the heart of Jerusalem, Dayan was greeted by an unpleasant and rather unwelcome surprise, when an Israeli policeman asked her to stop.

Despite the inexplicable instructions, that is exactly what Dayan did, acting in line with the officer's directive.

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Two weeks have passed since a young new immigrant was murdered in Kiryat Shmona by an Israeli teen, but the shock and pain have yet to diminish.

Yoel Lhunghal was an 18-year-old yeshiva student who made aliyah last year with his family from India. He was a member of Bnei Menashe, a community that has longed for Zion and yearned to return to its soil for more than 2,700 years.

Moving to Israel was a dream that Yoel and his family had tenderly and carefully nourished. Indeed, Yoel aspired to learn Torah and then serve in the IDF as a combat soldier in the paratroopers – not out of a sense of youthful machismo but because he loved the Land of Israel and wanted to defend it and the Jewish people.

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