For the citizens of the rebirthed nation not yet two decades old, the liberation from occupation to the reunification of the Eternal City of Jerusalem was more than a military triumph—the Six Day War altered the course of history.
As mortal beings, it’s impossible to foresee the outcome of events where the course of history is altered in a way we never anticipated. Yet, on Yom Yerushalayim—Jerusalem Day—such an outcome is commemorated.
It shall no more be said, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt”, but, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
The Balfour Declaration’s bold expression of support for a Jewish homeland issued in 1917 by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour on behalf of King George V and the government of Great Britain did not go unchallenged. The Mandate to establish a Jewish national home was virtually derailed by government officials motivated by misguided expediency rather than moral clarity.
Despite the narrative routinely championed by the liberal media, Israel’s War of Independence was a defensive war—a war of survival. Simultaneously attacked by five Arab states and perilously outnumbered by armies with superior weaponry, Israel emerged the victor with God’s help.
Even before the Mandate of Palestine was granted to the British government by the League of Nations in 1920 and confirmed in 1922, it became evident that implementation of the declaration would not be as straightforward as many hoped.
The Balfour Declaration accelerated movement toward a homeland for the Jewish people and was the first recognition of Zionist aspirations by a world power.
The Zionist longing at the turn of the 20th century was more than a transient dream.
In the mid-1800s, a dream began to coalesce that changed the course of history. It emerged in Russia and spread to Eastern Europe where the most beleaguered Jewish populations of the world lived.
The rebirth of the nation in 1948 happened so abruptly, the world almost seems to have been caught by surprise. Most watching the situation unfolding in 1948 didn’t think Israel could survive the birthing process.
