Israel is a country built on people rather than territory whereby people's faith is their passport.
Israel is a place where, for a Jew, it is an atonement for one's sins just to live there.
Israel is, for right-wing nationalist, both admired for standing up to the muslim enemy and for existing as a far off country that might take the jews off their hands.
Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.
Israel is a place where, for a Jew, just living there is equivalent to the observance of all the biblical precepts.