Episode Details

Witness the birth of a nation and the "miracle of the Mediterranean" in our episode on the 1948 Israel War of Independence, known to Israelis as Milchemet Ha'atzmaut and to Palestinians as the Nakba (the Catastrophe). In this installment, we unpack the chaotic transition from the British Mandate to statehood, beginning with the 1947 UN Partition Plan and the immediate outbreak of civil violence. We'll dive into the high-stakes drama of May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion declared independence just as the nascent state was invaded by five neighboring Arab armies