Today. But, but you say, wasn’t it already celebrated on April 26?
Yes, but that’s according to the Hebrew calendar. May 14, 1948, was the date under the Christian calendar of actual independence (photo via Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs):
It’s also the day the Arabs of former British Palestine call “Nakba” day.
But there are two Nakba’s as I’ve detailed before, with more Jews fleeing Arab lands than Arabs fled lands which became part of Israel.
To mark the day, some Israeli students took part in the Nakba ceremonies:
Left- and right-wing groups gathered at Tel Aviv University Monday afternoon to mark and protest the Palestinian Nakba Day.Far-right MK Aryeh Eldad called the Nakba “a day of celebration” as he led dozens of activists who protested a ceremony meant to mark the Palestinian “catastrophe” by students at the university.Hundreds were gathered in front of the university, holding signs and yelling slogans. Police maintained a heavy presence between the two groups. Three protesters, two from the right and one from the left, were detained….The university’s decision to allow the ceremony caused an uproar on campus and in Jerusalem. The Education Ministry called the event “mistaken and saddening,” but university management decided to allow it to take place.
It’s time to push back against the false narrative of Palestinian victimization which has embued so much of the rhetoric.
The truth is that the Arabs started a war, and lost, and there was an exchange of populations as a result.
It’s worth replaying Bibi Netanyahu’s speech before the U.N. in September 2011:
Update: Via Jerusalem Post, a video report:
And, Alan Dershowitz, Palestine’s Self-Inflicted Wound.
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