Street dancing, folk singing, impromptu parades and processions, open air professional entertainment and an army “show” In a stadium before 70, 000 onlookers were the order of the day in Tel Aviv today as half a million residents and guests from every corner of the civilised world celebrated Israel’s tenth anniversary.
The Joyful, often hilarious merrymaking which began last night and scarcely dropped in intensity as dawn appeared, continued throughout the day with young people, men, women and even babes in arms milling about the main streets of the city. Torches, electric displays with Biblical themes and processions which crisscrossed the city launched the monster observance last night.
Bonfires were kindled on the streets in many neighborhoods while block parties celebrated to the strains of music floating out of the windows from homes where private parties were in progress. Every restaurant and cafe in town did a land office business.
At the huge outdoor stadium in nearby Ramat Gan, the Israel Army put on a show which drew an audience of 70, 000. Under the direct command of Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen, Chaim Laskow, several thousand men and women members of the army participated.
Red-berated paratroopers stole the show as they acted out a tattoo, a mock re-enactment of an actual battle. Using noisy, colorful but safe “hand grenades” and machine gun firing blanks, the aerial Infantry, brought to the stadium in a newly revealed helicopter squadron, “stormed” a hill and conquered the “enemy.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
