Pre-Six Day War Israel gets its own Twitter account
Ahead of 50th anniversary of reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, Foreign Ministry project imagines what people then would have tweeted
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Most years just come and go, but 1967 has made a remarkable comeback on social media, thanks to Foreign Ministry efforts to mark the 50th year since the reunification of Jerusalem.
A Twitter account with the handle Tweeting 1967 became active earlier this month and has been featuring and re-tweeting accounts in the names of some of Israel’s most famous historical figures, as well as some fictitious characters, as the ministry re-lives the weeks leading up to the Six Day War.
These characters post about their feelings, observations and actions as though they were now experiencing the events leading up to June 5-10 1967 when Israel recaptured East Jerusalem (and the West Bank) from the Jordanians.
Among those featured are Moshe Dayan — the-then defense minister of Israel, Levi Eshkol, the then-prime minister, a Swedish volunteer, a foreign journalist, an IDF reservist soldier called to serve his country, and his homemaker wife longing for her husband.
“Been a part of the #IDF since I was 14,” wrote the account in Dayan’s name. “Time to prove my worth during the Six Day War.
Been a part of the #IDF since I was 14. Time to prove my worth during the #SixDayWar #OnThisDay
— Moshe Dayan on TW (@MosheDayan67) May 14, 2017
“14.5.67 Deliberate Soviet disinformation re-Israeli attack plans seems to be behind Egyptian mobilization,” reported the journalist.
14.5.67 Deliberate Soviet disinformation re #Israeli attack plans seems to be behind Egyptian mobilization
— Foreign Journalist (@MEjournalist67) May 14, 2017
An account in the name of the father of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, who died in 1904, was also retweeted: “Very emotional day for me. Hoping people will congratulate me on this momentous occasion. It was my idea, after all…”
Very emotional day for me. Hoping people will congratulate me on this momentous occasion. It was my idea, after all…
— Theodor Herzl on TW (@HerzlTweets) May 14, 2017
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon plugged the project on his own Twitter feed, writing “@Tweeting67 takes you on a day by day account of the days leading to Six Day War via historical and fictional personas. Worth following!”
