On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first Prime Minister. The United States followed by immediately recognizing the new state. Let’s take a look at how it unfolded and a couple of little known facts.
May 14, 1948:
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel mentions Jewish state 5 times, most importantly in the operational passage “we … hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.” (By way of background, proposed names for the new state included Jewish State, Zion, Judea, Yehuda, Ever (from “Ivri” or Hebrew), Land of Israel, and Israel; but David Ben-Gurion favored Israel and that carried the day.)
President Harry Truman had decided to recognize the Jewish State and requested a formal request for recognition of statehood. Because the name of this state had, just hours before the declaration of independence, not yet been decided (“Judea” and “Zion” were late possibilities), the representative of the Jewish Agency in the United States, Eliahu Epstein, submitted the following request to Truman without mentioning the new polity’s name, using instead the United Nations’ name for this territory, the “Jewish State.”
“I have the honor to notify you that the Jewish State has been proclaimed as an independent republic … and that a provisional government has been charged to assume the rights and duties of government for preserving law and order within the boundaries of the Jewish State, for defending the state against external aggression, and for discharging the obligations of the Jewish State to the other nations of the world in accordance with international law. … I have been authorized by the provisional government of the new state to tender this message and to express the hope that your government will recognize and will welcome the Jewish State into the community of nations.”
Eliahu Epstein to Harry S. Truman with jewish agancy re: recognition of Israel, May 14, 1948. Truman Papers, Official File. 204-D: Jewish State, 1948-49.
The typed document prepared for Truman used the dummy “Jewish state” term – which the president, who had heard the new state’s name by then, proceeded to scratch out in favor of Israel.
“This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof. The United States recognizes the provision government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.”
Truman response recognizing the new State of Israel.
Ralph Buntyn is executive vice president and associate editor of United Israel World Union. An author, historian and researcher, his many articles and essays have appeared in various media outlets.