While carrying out excavations in the Western Wall Plaza, researchers unearthed a 60-year old Davidka mortar shell dating back to Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. The tiny Davidka shell uncovered this week serves as a timely reminder that once upon a time, the Jewish people were willing to fight for Jerusalem. A sad but excellent article from Michael Freund.
Read More +Sponsored by Aish.com: Yahrtzeit of Pinchas Rutenberg (1879-1942), founder of the Israel Electric Corporation. A Russian Jewish immigrant, Rutenberg was a visionary and pioneer, whose efforts to bring electricity to Israel is regarded as a crucial factor in building a strong modern economy. Rutenberg’s flagship project was a hydroelectric plant on the Jordan River in 1931, which he built after gaining Winston Churchill’s political backing and Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s financial support. In 1948, the plant was destroyed by the Arab Legion.
Read More +Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1958, Jerusalem inaugurated a new water reservoir, thus assuring the Jewish holy city of an adequate water supply for the first time in its 3,000-year history. Jerusalem’s shortage of water was long its weakness in time of military siege. Back in the days of King David, a tunnel had been dug from the Old City to a neighboring valley, to channel water inside the Old City Walls. In modern times, the problem was exacerbated in 1948 when the Arab blockade of Jerusalem left its residents without a water supply.
Read More +What happened in 1917? Who was Lord Rothschild? What was the Balfour Declaration? Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1917, the British government gave final approval for the Balfour Declaration, calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in historic Israel. The declaration took the form of a letter from Arthur Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, who had once been a member of the British Parliament. In 1922, the United States Congress formally endorsed the Balfour Declaration. In the ensuing decades, the British would slowly whittle away at their commitment — first lopping off 80 percent of the land east
Read More +Sponsored by Aish.com: In 1948, Egypt launched a large-scale offensive against the Negev region of Israel. This was part of the War of Independence, an attack by five Arab armies designed to “drive the Jews into the sea.” Though the Jews were under-armed, untrained, and few in number, through ingenuity and perseverance they staved off the attacks and secured the borders. Yet the price was high — Israel lost 6,373 of its people, a full one percent of the Jewish population of Israel at the time.
Read More +An excerpt from the excellent, must-read essay by Seth Frantzman, currently in the doctoral program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and whose master’s thesis was on the 1948 war, in a counterpoint rebuttal of Ilan Pappe, a communist anti-Zionist self-loathing Jewish historian at Haifa University who has defended a student, Teddy Katz, for written essays documenting a fictitious Israeli massacre at the village of Tantura in 1948, and presenting it as truth.
Read More +From “Rectify Injustice” Against Israel, Cotler Tells U.S: Former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler and other Canadian scholars presented the U.S. Congress Thursday with its first testimony on Jews driven from Arab lands following Israel’s creation in 1948. The group was among experts helping U.S. lawmakers decide on a pair of bills that would oblige the Bush administration to actively oppose the Arab-led practice in Middle East peace efforts to speak only of Palestinian refugees. General discourse for decades has all but ignored tens of thousands of Jews, Christians and other minorities who were similarly turned into refugees. “The time
Read More +I discovered last nite that the great talk show host, Steve Malzberg is back on the radio, this time on WOR. WOR New York has announced that political commentator and longtime WABC Sports Talk host Steve Malzberg joined WOR on May 7, for weekday evenings, 9-11 PM and is also syndicated nationally by the WOR Radio Network (weekdays, 9 PM-Midnight ET). Steve can also be heard on Sunday morning 3-5 am on WOR Radio and streaming at www.wor710.com as well as on the WOR Radio Network around the nation at different times throughout the weekend. For the latest videos, stories,
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