Israel’s Founding Declaration at 75

The State of Israel was established nearly 75 years ago, on May 14, 1948, with the reading of its founding document, its Declaration of Independence, by the country’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. The Declaration laid out a set of essential guarantees – that Israel would be “based on freedom, justice, and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel” and that it would “maintain complete equality of social and political rights for all its inhabitants, irrespective of religion, race or sex.” Seventy-five years later, however, we need to honestly examine: To what extent has the country actually delivered on those lofty promises? Where has it gone wrong and where has it gone right? Can the Declaration still serve as a rallying cry for the Jewish and Arab citizens seeking democracy and equality? Two former Members of Knesset: Ibtisam Mara'ana (Labor) and Michal Rozin (Meretz) joined us on May 11, 2023 to discuss these and other questions. The webinar, part of our programming to mark Israel’s 75th anniversary, was moderated by political analyst and journalist, Akiva Eldar.