Sixty-five years ago today, on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence, uttering these historic words: “We declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.

“Happy birthday Israel”

!Photo: David Ben-Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, on May 14 1948, beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism, in the old Tel Aviv Museum of Art building on Rothschild St.