A 2015 class explaining how Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion – in an attempt to legitimize both his rule and the claim that his diplomatic efforts (and not the underground’s struggle for freedom) won the Jewish people a state – inaugurated November 29th as a day of commemoration for the United Nations partition plan.
As part of its general policy of belittling the underground’s role in founding the state, Israel’s school system educated entire generations to view the partition plan as a great diplomatic victory responsible for Jewish political independence.
But this has had a lasting negative effect on the Israeli public.
Because we learn in our schools that we have a state due to the UN giving it to us rather than because young Jews were ready to fight and sacrifice for our people’s freedom, the obvious conclusion is that in order to keep the Jewish state alive, Israel must appease the international community (a great example of what generally occurs when leaders who oppose revolution assume power once revolution succeeds).
