In May 1948, the modern state of Israel was established in the historic homeland of the Jewish people. Israel’s founders drafted the Declaration of Independence to guarantee rights for all future inhabitants:
“[The State of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education, and culture…”
—Declaration of Independence, Provisional Government of Israel, May 14, 1948
The War of 1948 and the consequent refugee crisis did take place during the war, but was due to Arab leaders who sought the destruction of the Jewish state.
Rev. Alex Awad has agreed to remove a quote falsely attributed to Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion from a DVD of his presentation “A Palestinian Perspective on the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” One of the more egregious problems of his presentation is his use of a quote falsely attributed to Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion.
