Treasure Trove: Abba Eban’s Message from New York’s 1949 Yom Haatzmaut Celebration

Israel’s 78th Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) starts at sundown on Tuesday April 21. Most of us have grown up celebrating the miracle of Israel’s creation each and every year. Imagine what it would have been like to celebrate it for the first time. This program from Israel’s first birthday party held in New York’s Madison Square Gardens on May 14, 1949 gives us a glimpse.

The event was sponsored by the Palestine Pioneers Foundation, the American Committee for the National Sick Fund of Palestine, the League for Jewish National Labor in Palestine and the Tel Hai Fund, all of which are associated with the Revisionist movement founded by Vladimir (Zeev) Jabotinsky.

The program carries a greeting from New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey who said the independence of the State of Israel “signals the redress of an ancient wrong. It is the end of a long trail of suffering and hope and a beginning of a new life.” Dewey adds “There will be trial and perhaps tribulation. There will be experiment and perhaps error, but in the long run no new nation since the founding of our own Republic has had reason to face the future with more assurance and hope.”

New York Mayor William O’Dwyer wrote that “the first anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel is a day of great rejoicing…This celebration culminates 2000 years of struggle and sacrifice…The citizens of the City of New York, of every race and creed, salute the proud people of Israel. We thrill to their hard-won victory, and rejoice in their reborn state.”

This event was not New York’s only celebration of Israel’s first birthday. On the actual Yom Ha’atzmaut (May 4), 150,000 persons gathered in Madison Square Park for a mass demonstration. In the evening, a combined concert and meeting was held at Carnegie Hall.  

Among the speakers that evening was Aubrey (Abba) Eban, Israel’s first ambassador to the United States and permanent representative to the United Nations. [https://thecjn.ca/arts-culture/treasure-trove-abba-eban-wrote-about-zionism-and-the-united-nations-50-years-ago-his-ideas-are-still-true-today/]  These of his words on Israel’s first birthday resonate equally on its 78th:

“It is true that a military victory has been won, yet it has not yet been crowned in peace…Unless we can be successful in this, our previous successes may count for very little indeed.”

Added Treasure: 

The program for the Madison Square Gardens event contained this salute from the Kellogg’s cereal company. 77 years later, Kellogg’s has faced criticism from pro-Palestinian groups for its ties to Israel (it distributes and markets its products in Israel and is owned in part by two private equity funds who have investments in Israel). As a result, it has been included on several local and independent boycott lists. Kellogg’s has denied that its sale of Corn Flakes in Israel represents support for government policies. Kellogg’s 1949 wish applies equally today: “May [Israel] always be a haven of peace to the Children of Israel, and abound in all the good things of life so dear to them.” Amen.