00:007,000 years ago, the Israelites settled in the land of Canaan.
00:05Over time, they were conquered by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians.
00:10But after 70 years, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians,
00:14who allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.
00:18However, after a few hundred years, the Greeks came and took over, followed by the Romans.
00:24And in the year 70 AD, they destroyed the Jewish temple
00:27and forced most of the Jews to leave the land of Israel.
00:30It's for almost 2,000 years.
00:32Jews lived all over the world under the rule of different empires and kingdoms,
00:36always hoping to return to their homeland one day.
00:39It wasn't until the 19th century that European Jews began returning to Israel in large numbers.
00:44It's not as slaves or subjects of an empire, but as free people in their own right.
00:49This return was known as the First Aliyah, which lasted from 1881 to 1903
00:53and brought around 25,000 Jews to Israel.
00:57At this point, the region was still called Palestine and was part of the Ottoman Empire.
01:02The majority of these early Zionists came from Russia and the other parts of the Russian Empire
01:06because of the pogroms against Jews there.
01:09Pogroms were organized violent attacks against Jews,
01:13usually by non-Jewish subjects of an empire or kingdom.
01:16They often included murder, rape, and destruction of property.
01:20Many Jews who came to Palestine during the First Aliyah
01:22were very poor and had to live in slums in cities like Jaffa,
01:26which is now part of Tel Aviv.
01:28Some of them joined the growing labor movement in Palestine and bought land in order
01:32to work it themselves rather than being employed by others.
01:36These early Zionists helped to establish the first Hebrew schools and newspapers in Palestine.
01:40They also helped to found the Jewish State of Israel in 1948.
01:45The Second Aliyah took place between 1904 and 1914
01:49and saw around 35,000 Jews arrive in Palestine.
01:54Most of them came from European countries like Germany, Austria, and Russia.
01:58By this time, many of the European Jews were well-off financially
02:02and had some capital to invest in Palestine.
02:06They established farms, factories, and businesses
02:09and helped to develop the economy of the region.
02:12During the Second Aliyah,
02:14more emphasis was placed on creating institutions
02:17to help new immigrants adapt to life in Palestine.
02:20For example, the Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901
02:24to buy land for Jewish settlement in Palestine.
02:26By 1914, when the Second Aliyah ended,
02:30there were around 85,000 Jews living in Palestine.
02:34The Third Aliyah took place between 1919 and 1923
02:38and saw around 60,000 Jews come to Palestine.
02:42At this point, it was clear that the Ottoman Empire was collapsing
02:45and many Jews feared that if they waited too long,
02:48they might lose their chance to build a Jewish state in Palestine.
02:52So they decided to come to Palestine as quickly as possible.
02:55Many of the immigrants during the Third Aliyah were poor again
02:59and had to live in slums.
03:01This caused tension with the Arabs in Palestine,
03:04who felt that the Jews were taking their jobs and their land.
03:07This tension would eventually erupt into violence in the Arab.
03:11Riots of 1920, 1921, and 1929.
03:14Despite the violence, the Jewish immigration to Palestine
03:19continued during the Fourth Aliyah between 1924 and 1926, around 1935.
03:25A thousand Jews came to Palestine during this period.
03:28By this time, it was clear that the British authorities
03:31were not going to stop Jewish immigration to Palestine.
03:34In fact, in 1922, the British government had issued a statement
03:39saying that they would encourage Jewish immigration to Palestine.
03:43This was good news for the Jews because it meant that they would be able
03:46to continue coming to Palestine, even if the Arabs didn't like it.
03:50It also meant that they would be able to create their own state in Palestine
03:53without having to fight a war with the British.
03:55The British were happy with this arrangement
03:57because they needed the Jews' help to keep order in Palestine.
04:00The Jews had a much lower crime rate than the Arabs,
04:04so they were able to take over many of the administrative functions
04:07of the Ottoman Empire.
04:09In 1936, the Jewish Agency,
04:12which was the main representative body of the Jews in Palestine,
04:16set up the Jewish Brigade Group.
04:19This was a military unit made up of Jewish volunteers from all over the world.
04:23The Jewish Brigade Group fought alongside the British
04:26against the Germans in World War II.
04:28After the war, the British government decided to hold a vote in Palestine
04:32to see whether the Arabs or the Jews wanted to create a Jewish state.
04:37The British thought that the Arabs would win the vote,
04:40but they were wrong.
04:41The Jews won by a large margin,
04:44and the State of Israel was born on May 14, 1948.
04:48After the creation of the State of Israel,
04:50many more Jews came to Israel.
04:52During the 5th Aliyah between 1940 and 1951,
04:56around 650,000 Jews came to Israel during this period.
05:00It's most of them from Europe.
05:02At this point, Israel was at war with its Arab neighbors,
05:06and many of the immigrants had to go to refugee camps.
05:09While the fighting was going on,
05:11but despite the hardships,
05:12the Jewish immigration to Israel continued during the 6th Aliyah.
05:16Between 1952 and 1961,
05:21around 150,000 Jews came to Israel during this period,
05:24most of them from North Africa.
05:27At this point, Israel was no longer a poor country.
05:30In fact, it was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
05:33So the immigrants during the 6th Aliyah
05:35were able to find good jobs and homes as Aliyah.
05:37The 7th Aliyah began in the early 1970s
05:41and has been going on ever since.
05:44Around 1 million Jews have come to Israel during this period,
05:47most of them from the former Soviet Union.
05:50Unlike the immigrants during the earlier Aliyah,
05:52the immigrants during the 7th Aliyah
05:55are not really fleeing persecution.
05:57They're coming to Israel because they want to live in a Jewish state.
06:01Some of them are also coming to escape
06:03the anti-Semitism of European countries.
06:05Whatever their reasons,
06:07the immigrants during the 7th Aliyah
06:08have been very successful.
06:10Many of them have become doctors, lawyers,
06:12scientists, and business people.
06:14They have also helped to make Israel
06:15one of the most prosperous countries in the Middle East.
06:18Israel is now home to around 7 million Jews
06:21from all over the world.
06:23They have come to Israel for a variety of reasons,
06:26but they have all contributed to making Israel
06:29the thriving and diverse country that it is today.
06:32I hope you enjoyed learning about the history of Israel.
06:34If you did, please like this video
06:36and subscribe for more content.
06:38Thanks for watching.
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