- Love it or hate it,
few can deny that Israel has made its mark on the world,
but most people don't know that the Jewish state
almost didn't exist,
and not just because the tiny country was invaded
by all of its neighbors and then some
on its first full day as a state.
Against all odds, the Jewish state is about to celebrate
three quarters of a century.
So in honor of Israel's 75th birthday,
here are seven and a half facts you didn't know
about the founding of the Jewish state.
Number one, the name Israel wasn't an obvious choice.
Nowadays, we know of Israel as well, Israel,
but before the Declaration of Independence,
there was no name.
In early 1948,
the Zionists were busy fighting for their lives,
lobbying international governments,
taking care of Holocaust refugees, absorbing immigrants,
and trying to build a country from scratch,
but the country to be needed a name
and in classic Jewish fashion,
no one could agree on what it should be.
The conversation went something like this.
How about Judea?
Well, according to the Partition Plan,
the mountains of Judea
will be outside the borders of the Jewish state.
So that wouldn't make sense.
How about Ever, a biblical character
whom both Jews and Arabs trace their lineage?
Rejected, and not just because it sounds
like some sci-fi civilization.
How about Zion or in Hebrew Tzion or Tziona
because, you know, Zionism?
Well, Zion means Jerusalem,
which again isn't part of the Jewish state
in the Partition Plan.
Ivriya, from the word Ivri,
which is the name used for Abraham?
Herzliya, after Theodor Herzl father of modern Zionism?
How about the state of Israel,
which reaffirms the connection
between the land and the Jews, AKA the Children of Israel?
Bingo.
And that's how Israel got its name, sort of.
Number two, saved by the salesman.
Did you know that in 1948, American recognition of Israel
hinged on a traveling salesman?
Let's back up.
On November 29th, 1947,
the UN voted to partition this piece of land
into two separate states, one Jewish, one Arab.
Yup, the original two-state solution,
but the plan went south almost immediately.
The Arabs rejected the plan,
instead promised to wipe the Jewish state off the map
if it was announced.
Without international support,
the safe haven for global jury would be doomed.
The Zionists needed a friend,
a big friend, an American friend.
But it wasn't that easy.
The US State Department was dead set
against the Zionist dream.
Their logic went something like this.
The Arab world is not happy about Israel.
The Arab world controls the oil.
We need the oil.
Bye-bye, Israel.
Seriously, that's a memo from the State Department.
Verbatim.
Okay, maybe not.
The unborn Jewish state was on the verge
of instantly becoming a pariah state
unless the Zionists could convince
US President Harry Truman
to promise to recognize the new country
after it was announced.
But it was far from clear that he would.
So the Jewish agency schlepped out
famous and eloquent Zionist
Dr. Chaim Weizmann to Washington.
Surely this gifted leader could convince the president,
but no dice.
Truman had become so frustrated
with the endless Zionist lobbying
that he banned any more meetings with Zionist leaders.
In order to get Weizmann to the door,
the Jews needed a man on the inside.
That man was Eddie Jacobson,
a Jewish traveling salesman
who just so happened to be Truman's old army buddy
with open access to the Oval Office.
Reportedly, Eddie sat the president down
and gave him a serious talking to
about his refusal to meet Weizmann
who he called the greatest Jew alive.
That greatest Jew alive managed to convince Truman
to recognize the Jewish state and the rest is history.
All thanks to a Jewish traveling salesman from Missouri.
Number three, Czechoslovakia to the rescue.
Did you know that the Jewish state got its weapons
from a country that no longer exists?
Before the Declaration of Independence,
every Jew in Palestine knew that war was coming
and they knew that they didn't have
a prayer of winning without weapons,
but the US had instituted an arms embargo
against the Jewish state
and cracked down on American citizens
who tried to smuggle weapons across the ocean.
Yikes! Salvation came from the unlikeliest of places,
a country with a history
almost as complicated as Israel's.
Czechoslovakia was created in 1918,
disassembled in World War II,
reformed in 1946, and split for good in 1992.
All this instability left a two-year-old country
desperate for cash, so they struck a deal with the Jews
and with the Arabs, selling weapons to both the Zionists
and the Syrian Arab Liberation Army.
These weapons shipments to Israel were critical
and saved the Jewish state from annihilation,
and the shipments to the Arabs, at first the Haganah,
the Jewish Defense Organization prior to the IDF,
tried sinking the ship carrying the weapons,
but the weapons were salvaged
and put back on a ship headed to Syria.
So the Haganah decided to teach the Syrians a lesson
in Israeli chutzpah.
The tiny Jewish navy seized the ship
and the Israelis ended up shooting the Syrians
with their own weapons.
Number four, an unprecedented return home.
Israel's Declaration of Independence
marked the first time that exiled people
successfully returned to their homeland on mass.
Throughout history,
empires have conquered smaller civilizations,
wiping them out either by force or assimilation.
Even many mighty empires have been lost to history.
But the Jews, a tiny stateless nation,
managed to survive much to everyone's astonishment.
300 years ago, when the French King Louis XIV
asked the famous philosopher Pascal
to prove the existence of a supernatural force,
Pascal responded, "Why the Jews, Your Majesty, the Jews."
Pascal never dreamed that this unlikely group of survivors
would one day return home, build a state,
fend off powerful invading armies,
and go from an ancient tribe to a high-tech powerhouse.
But you know who did? Theodor Herzl.
"If you will it, it is no dream."
Number five, one nation under a rock.
The Jewish State's Declaration of Independence
doesn't refer to God, or does it?
In the weeks leading up to the signing
of the Declaration of Independence, an argument broke out
whether or not to include God in the document.
Religious Jews demanded the Jewish State's
Declaration of Independence include a reference to God.
The secular block were firm that God had no place
on the new state's founding document.
Talk about drama.
The morning of the signing ceremony rolled around
and still no decision had been made.
Future Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
spent hours negotiating with both sides.
Finally, they came to an agreement,
with the declaration ending,
"Placing our trust in the Rock of Israel."
This might sound like a weird compromise,
but it's actually brilliant.
Rock of Israel can either be interpreted
as a reference to God, as in Lord, my rock and my redeemer,
or as Ben-Gurion later explained
a reference to the Jewish history, heritage, and land.
So what does it really mean?
Rock of Israel only knows.
Number six, signed by TBD.
Not all the signatories on the Declaration of Independence
actually signed it on May 14th.
At the bottom of Israel's Declaration of Independence
are the signatures of all 37 members of the Moetzet HaAm,
a provisional state council
created before the state's founding.
This beautiful document
lives in Israel's national archives in Jerusalem,
but independence was actually declared in Tel Aviv
and only 25 of 37 signatories were present.
Where were the rest?
One was abroad and the others were fighting to protect
the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
So 25 of the signatories signed an alphabetical order,
leaving spaces for those who would only sign it later.
Number seven, an underground movement literally.
Look closely at this image.
Founding of the state of Israel, right? No big deal.
But zoom in and you'll see a few details
that hint at the precarious nature of this moment.
Take the windows, for example.
I don't know where you put the windows in your house,
but mine are not up at the top of the wall near the ceiling.
But Israel declared independence
from a basement during a war
with a threat of bombs and snipers ever present.
Hence, the basement of the Tel Aviv Art Museum,
whose walls were covered in paintings
that let's just say weren't quite appropriate
for the Jewish state's founding family photos.
So they covered the paintings with this giant curtain
and the sideways Israeli flags
which have the Jewish star 90 degrees off.
Whoops, and while that sounds like the end of the video,
I still owe you the half fact, and trust me, it's a doozy.
Number seven and a half, the Nakba.
Israel's independence is known by many as the catastrophe.
A catastrophe?
Did I just spend this whole video telling you
how miraculous the Zionist project is?
But many Palestinians call Israel's independence
the Nakba or catastrophe.
For them, independence Day is a day of mourning
over the loss of their homes
and the collapse of Arab Palestine.
The refugees who fled 1948 were largely ostracized
by the countries where they fled.
The UN has perpetuated their status as refugees
and turned a blind eye to laws in Arab countries
that continue to discriminate against Palestinians.
Today, many people refuse to acknowledge
the existence of the Jewish state,
while others refuse to acknowledge
the plight of Palestinian refugees
perpetuating the suffering of people
on both sides of the conflict.
But over the decades, there are those who have risen
above the trauma of the Nakba and chosen the path of peace.
Consider how incredible it is.
The countries that once refused to recognize
Israel's existence are now home to Israeli embassies
which fly Israeli flags for all to see.
75 years later, Israel is still building the plane
while flying it, still beating the odds in order to survive,
and still celebrating the many miracles that got us here.