29 November 1947 – 16 Kislev 5708
The United Nations voted in favor of partitioning British Mandate Palestine into two states – one Jewish, the other Arab – after receiving the recommendations of its UN Palestine delegation. Jews around the world listened with bated breath to the live radio broadcast as one by one, representatives of the nations of the world read out their votes. Under the partition motion, Jerusalem would be an international city, and British limitations on entry of Jewish refugees into the country would be lifted as of February 1948, opening the floodgates to thousands of Holocaust refugees. Thirty three countries, including Soviet Russia, voted for a Jewish state, with thirteen against and ten abstentions. Spontaneous celebrations broke out all over the Jewish world, traffic stopped in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as people danced in the streets until morning. Arab attacks starting Israel’s War of Independence began next day.