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46

‫הטקסט באנגלית‬

The Declaration of Independence

In the old Tel Aviv museum on 16 Rothschild Street Ben Gurion declared
the establishment of the state of Israel, on Friday, the 5th of Iyar 1948.

Everyone knows about the declaration but not everyone knows that it almost
didn’t happen, because in order to declare the establishment of the state they
needed to receive an agreement of the new Israeli parliament and many
members were afraid to vote in favor of the declaration because they knew
that after the declaration there will be a war with the Arab countries, and
then, a moment before the declaration, Ben Gurion met with every member
of the parliament and convinced him to vote for the declaration. Ben Gurion
requested to keep the declaration a secret because he was afraid of the attack
of the Arab countries but the newspapers publicized everything just like
newspapers love to do.

The situation in the country was very difficult! There was a war all over the
country. Jerusalem was under a terrible siege and the new politicians that
were in Jerusalem couldn’t even get to Tel Aviv.

On the day of the declaration the leaders were afraid of a bombing and thus
the declaration was very quick. Ben Gurion read the declaration in 17
minutes. They needed to rush so much that they didn’t even print the
declaration and Ben Gurion read from a draft in his handwriting, which he
held on a blank scroll. Everyone signed the blank scroll, which was filled in
with the declaration only a few days later.

Ben Gurion declared: “In the Land of Israel the Jewish nation rose.”
Everyone was moved with emotion and at the end of the declaration Rabbi
Shifman got up and blessed “Shehecheyanu” and everyone applauded.

A day after the declaration 5 Arab armies entered Israel, and the second
stage of the War of Independence began.

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