35:03
Episode 8·Apr 26, 2023
The Miraculous State Takes Shape, 1948 to 1953
How Israel—led by David Ben-Gurion—overcame its early challenges and laid the foundations for a thriving society and state.
Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism·Episode 7·Apr 26, 2023
Israel’s War of Independence, 1947-1949
Shortly after the General Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to establish Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, Chaim Weizmann declared that states are not given to peoples on a silver platter—and that the Jews would have to fight to establish theirs. Indeed, the Yishuv, backed by the Zionist movement, fought a War of Independence beginning the day after the UN decision, when the Arabs of Palestine responded with anger and violence. The war did not end until early 1949.
More From Building the Impossible Dream: The History of Zionism
35:13Episode 9·Apr 26, 2023
Making the Jewish State Secure, 1948 to 1967
In the Sinai War and the Six-Day War, Israel acted decisively to defend itself against its Arab neighbors and lay the basis for long-term security.
32:55Episode 10·Apr 28, 2023
Transforming Israel and the Middle East, 1967-1970
Dr. Polisar explores how the Six-Day War transformed Israel's reality, the War of Attrition, and birth of the U.S.-Israel alliance.
34:03Episode 11·Apr 29, 2023
Sadat, Begin, and the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Agreement, 1970-1982
How Israel's victory in the Yom Kippur War laid the groundwork for the most important peace agreement in its history.
