In this 1956 clip, Israel receives the Yaffo and the Eilat from Britain. At the time, they were the largest warships in the Israeli navy.
As sailors salute, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion hurries along the deck of one of the ships.
“Mr. Ben-Gurion, premier and minister of defense, went aboard to make a brief inspection,” the narrator proclaims. “He gave the impression of being a very busy man as he came down the gangway, and of course he is.”
In the second half of the clip, female soldiers from the Israeli military give a demonstration parade for senior officers and foreign visitors.
“Now to the Israeli army, with accent on girl members of it,” marvels the narrator as the cadets march across the screen.
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“‘A dashed smart body of women, sir!’ said one observer, and he was quite right, too.’”
(The Associated Press and Movietone News recently released their vast video archives on YouTube, allowing the public to freely access a million minutes worth of historical news clips dating back to 1895 — including many iconic scenes from Israel’s history featured in this Times of Israel series.)
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