For Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, and Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, video is a powerful medium to help people connect to the history of the Jewish state.
Although the JTA Archive does not contain videos, JTA Israeli correspondent Dina Kraft has a feature about Toldot Yisrael, a project that interviews with veterans and other eyewitnesses who offer a Jewish perspective of the year 1948. Below is a video from Toldot Yisrael:
Our Washington bureau chief, Ron Kampeas, who wrote an excellent primer on Israel in our archive, also brought to our attention rare color footage from the early years of the Jewish state, featured in the documentary film, "I Was There in Color":
This third video is from the Spielberg Jewish Film Archive showing Yom Ha’atzmaut on film in 1956:
And for those interested in traditionally narrated black-and-white documentary, here is David Ben-Gurion’s declaration, as narrated by Sir Ian McClellan in the film "Pillar of Fire":
Have you come across other interesting videos online? Comment below or find us on Twitter: @JTAarchive.
