Historical Jewish Press

If you browse through the pages of "Tzvi", "Davar", "Chavatzelet", "Ma'ariv", and the "Jerusalem Post" since 1884, you will learn about the life of the Jewish Community (the Yishuv) in the country during that time and the challenges it faced. Among the issues that the newspapers dealt with were the development of the Jewish Community, the British mandate, the Jewish-Arab conflict, the world wars and their subsequent world order, the Holocaust, and the establishment of the State of Israel and the 1948 War of Independence.

The ability to re-read these newspapers and to access this wonderful reservoir of information was made possible through a project called the "Historical Jewish Press" (www.jpress.org.il) that allows everyone to browse through the history pages of the Hebrew press starting at the end of the 19th century. All who go through the website find evidence of the consecutive Jewish presence in the Land of Israel.

I congratulate this innovative project, which is of the highest historical importance for Hasbara. Every one of the newspapers' pages gives clear cut evidence of the unbroken bond between the Jewish People and its homeland, the Land of Israel, which in modern times was reborn as the State of Israel.

These days, the heads of the Palestinian Authority seek to undermine, through delegitimization, the Jewish People's natural rights to its Land and country, and aggressively promote the Palestinian narrative by obfuscating and denying the bond between the Jewish People and its Land, the Jewish People and its heritage. Therefore, there is a genuine and strong need to state the historic truth, like that which is coming to light thanks to the existence of these newspapers. Stating this historical truth has become even more crucial these days, following the words of the Palestinian Hasbara Minister who claimed that he has an archeological document which rejects any connection between the Jewish People and the Western Wall (known also as the "Wailing Wall").

This project, in addition to its contribution to academic research, will assist the friends of Israel around the world in Hasbara, will spread the facts and will strengthen the important bond between Israel and world Jewry.

I congratulate the initiators of the website, the Tel Aviv University and the National and University Library. I join them in their call to bring more partners and donors in order to broaden the collection. I hope their aspiration that the site will provide representation for newspapers from all the Jewish communities around the world will become a reality.

Well done!