GraalVM does not solve the reliance on the underlying host (JVM, Java) problem.

Well that depends what you define the host problem to be

End users can certainly run Clojure programs natively without having the JVM installed on their machine

You can do that without Graal using jpackage. The only boon of Graal is native binaries and interop. But if you want to ship the JVM the user doesn't need it installed.

I wonder if native apps built with Graal or jpackage could be accepted at the Apple macOS and Windows app stores?

Graal probably. Apple seems to not like JITs so shipping the JVM might be out of the question.

And the 'problem' is not a problem at all.

Are you watching projects like Janet language? For me, JVM is a nonstarter in any capacity, but I welcome that PLT circles are learning from Clojure's design choices and that other lisps are increasingly feasible.

It's not clojure, but it's clojure-ish enough that it can be pleasantly productive for little scripting tasks and smaller problems.

Another language with a syntax similar to Clojure is the Hy language built on Python (I just released a book on Hy https://leanpub.com/hy-lisp-python so I admit positive bias for the language). I used to use Clojure a lot for two consulting customers and I need to try it again. I think the project libpython-clj https://github.com/clj-python/libpython-clj looks very interesting for those of us who like Lisp and need access to deep learning tools.