Page 97 - big friday
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ive with the message that in Tel Aviv the Provisional State Council had declared Israel's
independence – but no-one believed this. Everyone was certain that it was a joke. And
when, early the next morning, a representative of the American broadcasting service told
his friends that the US had granted recognition to Israel, they thought it was meant in jest.
In every Arab capital the imams in the mosques were calling for a religious war against the
Jews. This was Friday – the Muslim "Sabbath" – when the mosques are full of worshippers,
and this time they were even fuller than usual.
It was not in vain that the hour and venue of the declaration ceremony were kept
confidential, and when the morning newspapers announced that the new broadcasting
station would open at 4pm with a transmission of the declaration, it was a grave mistake.
Davar announced that "the broadcasting station of the Jewish state, Kol Yisrael (Voice of
Israel), will carry its first broadcast today at a wavelength of 50 MHz." The broadcast itself
began with the following words by the anchor:
"Hello! Hello! The broadcasting station of the State of Israel. From today, the
independent Voice of Israel is on the air, discussing Israel's heroism and bringing
the news of our independence. The Voice of Israel will serve the Jewish army. It
will carry its message to friends, seekers of peace, and our neighbors. The Voice of
Israel, the voice of our state, will prevail over the chaos and tumult that was sought
by foreign rulers. The Voice of Israel is the voice of the pioneers and defenders."
In the mail, too, an error was discovered relating to the details of the time and venue.
Zeev Sharef, secretary of the "cabinet" at the time and one of the figures who organized
and orchestrated the ceremony (his book, Three Days, documents the events of May 12-
14), looks back and recalls what happened with the mail:
'"The time and place of the ceremony were leaked to the foreign journalists, apparently
by the local newspaper editors, and they quickly notified their editorial boards overseas.
An anonymous postal employee saw that telegrams that were being sent overseas noted
the time and place of the ceremony, while no mention of these details appeared in the
local newspapers. The postal employee, who suspected that something was not right,
went from one official to another, until he got to me. It turned out that the censor had
been terminated with the conclusion of Mandatory rule. We were too pressed for time to
investigate the matter, so that employee was temporarily appointed censor. He removed
the details of time and place from each telegram, and everything worked out fine. But this
gave rise to a new problem: at the telegraph office someone continued this censorship
following the declaration, which concluded by stating the time and venue of the occasion."
Say it with stamps
T he postal service, too, had a "hand" in the establishment of the state: how is a state
recognized if not through various "services"? Who but the tiny Doar Ivri ("Hebrew post")
stamps was first to declare to the tens of thousands of residents of the land that a state
A State is Born 95
independence – but no-one believed this. Everyone was certain that it was a joke. And
when, early the next morning, a representative of the American broadcasting service told
his friends that the US had granted recognition to Israel, they thought it was meant in jest.
In every Arab capital the imams in the mosques were calling for a religious war against the
Jews. This was Friday – the Muslim "Sabbath" – when the mosques are full of worshippers,
and this time they were even fuller than usual.
It was not in vain that the hour and venue of the declaration ceremony were kept
confidential, and when the morning newspapers announced that the new broadcasting
station would open at 4pm with a transmission of the declaration, it was a grave mistake.
Davar announced that "the broadcasting station of the Jewish state, Kol Yisrael (Voice of
Israel), will carry its first broadcast today at a wavelength of 50 MHz." The broadcast itself
began with the following words by the anchor:
"Hello! Hello! The broadcasting station of the State of Israel. From today, the
independent Voice of Israel is on the air, discussing Israel's heroism and bringing
the news of our independence. The Voice of Israel will serve the Jewish army. It
will carry its message to friends, seekers of peace, and our neighbors. The Voice of
Israel, the voice of our state, will prevail over the chaos and tumult that was sought
by foreign rulers. The Voice of Israel is the voice of the pioneers and defenders."
In the mail, too, an error was discovered relating to the details of the time and venue.
Zeev Sharef, secretary of the "cabinet" at the time and one of the figures who organized
and orchestrated the ceremony (his book, Three Days, documents the events of May 12-
14), looks back and recalls what happened with the mail:
'"The time and place of the ceremony were leaked to the foreign journalists, apparently
by the local newspaper editors, and they quickly notified their editorial boards overseas.
An anonymous postal employee saw that telegrams that were being sent overseas noted
the time and place of the ceremony, while no mention of these details appeared in the
local newspapers. The postal employee, who suspected that something was not right,
went from one official to another, until he got to me. It turned out that the censor had
been terminated with the conclusion of Mandatory rule. We were too pressed for time to
investigate the matter, so that employee was temporarily appointed censor. He removed
the details of time and place from each telegram, and everything worked out fine. But this
gave rise to a new problem: at the telegraph office someone continued this censorship
following the declaration, which concluded by stating the time and venue of the occasion."
Say it with stamps
T he postal service, too, had a "hand" in the establishment of the state: how is a state
recognized if not through various "services"? Who but the tiny Doar Ivri ("Hebrew post")
stamps was first to declare to the tens of thousands of residents of the land that a state
A State is Born 95
