Over the last ten years, Toldot Yisrael (www.toldotyisrael.org/en) has interviewed over 1,000 of the men and women who were part of Israel’s founding generation. The majority of the ~4,000 hours of footage we have filmed focuses on the period leading up to and including the War of independence. Many of our interviewees, however, went on to play an active role in Israel’s history in the period beyond 1948. In those cases we continued the interviews to include other major events in Israel’s history, recording first hand accounts from Zvi Zamir, Israel’s Mossad director during the Yom Kippur War; Rafi Eitan, the commander of the operation to capture Eichmann; and Shlomo Gazit, the Director of Military Intelligence during Sadat’s historic visit to Israel, etc.
The lives of our target interview population, people born in 1930 or earlier, parallels the history of the State of Israel. They were the young officers in Israel’s War of Independence, the generals in the Six-Day War, and tragically, the bereaved parents of 1973. When we interview them, they reflect on the entirety of Israel’s history from their own personal perspective.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, Toldot Yisrael, in cooperation with Yad Levi Eshkol, has prepared a series of brief (1-3 minute, Hebrew with English subtitles) clips that relate to Jerusalem and the period surrounding the Six-Day War. I have curated a playlist (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8PsmAjtLl4yMf2iub7xf3x4AWqfNy0IK) which includes the new clips produced this year, plus three other clips and films from our collection that fit into the larger Jerusalem theme. I have organized them loosely as follows: 2 clips dealing with the fall of the Old City of Jerusalem in 1948, several clips relating to the period leading up to and including the Six-Day War, and a few that address or take place in the aftermath of the war. Links and brief descriptions of the individual clips follows below. A pdf on our website (http://www.toldotyisrael.org/files/Yom-Yerushalayim.pdf) contains biographical information of the interviewees included below and a brief glossary of terms.
- Izzy Rahav and the Fall of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter (https://youtu.be/3EDy09xy_rI) - Future commander of Naval Commando Unit 13, Izzy Rahav shares his regret about witnessing the fall of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter while leading alongside Yitzhak Rabin in the War of Independence.
- Rabbi She'ar Yashuv Cohen and the fall of Jerusalem's Old City (https://youtu.be/3XuwseMz0CQ) - Former Chief Rabbi of Haifa She'ar Yashuv Cohen, a Haganah fighter wounded in the battle for Jerusalem's Old City, recalls his first Shabbat as a POW after the fall of the Old City to the Jordanians.
- The Iraqi Defector (https://youtu.be/rDJJN1UsLzY) - Danny Shapira tells how the 1966 defection of an Iraqi pilot and his MiG 21 fighter plane brought about US and Israel military cooperation.
- From France to the US (https://youtu.be/uTcDRcX21mE) - Levi Eshkol spearheads the move that leads to a shift toward US military support of Israel, away from relying on French support.
- Dayan’s Warning (https://youtu.be/eLmGLgTslrM) - Moshe Dayan gives a dire assessment before the Six-Day War.
- The Waiting Period (https://youtu.be/I1GdthsoJWo) - Listen to why the IDF leadership felt that a pre-emptive strike was called for in the tense "waiting period" leading up to the Six-Day War.
- Sit Tight! (https://youtu.be/8M0j0N3UTUs) - Moshe Dayan’s instructions on the eve of the Six-Day War shed light on where the IDF thought the battles would play out.
- Eshkol’s Wisdom (https://youtu.be/K0BY1D6oR8I ) - Israel's political and military leadership engage in a tense debate in the weeks leading up to the Six-Day War, and Levi Eshkol's genius helps navigate the discussions.
- Day 1 of the War (https://youtu.be/hWgEZhwcXIs) - Fighter pilot Danny Shapira shares a harrowing account of his mission to bomb Cairo's airfields on the first day of the Six-Day War.
- Why Didn’t the Jordanians Fight? (https://youtu.be/vclw4eqK3TU) - Arye Nehemkin is surprised that the Jordanians aren't fighting in the Six-Day War with the same intensity they fought in 1948.
- They Stole Our Spotlight (https://youtu.be/7xFtek4W9L0) - The head of the IDF's Southern Command has a bittersweet reaction to the recapture of Jerusalem during the Six-Day War.
- Jerusalem of Gold? (https://youtu.be/8knJYWiQpbg) - Yaffa Yarkoni, Israel's "Songstress of the Wars", attempts to sing the Six-Day War anthem at a post-war military assembly.
- Ben Gurion and the Suez Canal (https://youtu.be/LkqqAWQMnsU) - Ben Gurion has a surprising reaction after visiting the Suez Canal after the Six-Day War.
- Chaim Herzog - The National Communicator (https://youtu.be/aBd9Gol11ao) - IDF Chief Education Officer Mordechai Bar-On recommends Chaim Herzog for the job of "National Communicator,†whose soothing voice of authority calmed Israelis throughout the Six-Day War.
- Chaim Herzog - The End of the Six-Day War (https://youtu.be/a-goQ4QXU-0) - Military commentator, Brigadier General Chaim Herzog, poetically sums up the end of the Six-Day War.
- Echoes of a Shofar (https://youtu.be/bIfLbkx4ZIM) - Six men in their 80s return to the Kotel to "reenact their crime" - blowing shofar in the 1940s when it was illegal under British Mandate law. (This film is ten minutes long)
Chag sameach,
Aryeh Halivni (Eric Weisberg)
Toldot Yisrael
Email:
halivni@toldotyisrael.org
www.toldotyisrael.org
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2017 02:46PM by mlb.
