It is the most iconic photo from the Six Day War, and perhaps one of the most from the last century – the three Israeli paratroopers at the Western Wall after it was liberated from Jordanian occupation.
Over the years, the men in the photo – Zion Karasanti (l), Yitzhak Yifat, and Chaim Oshri – have recreated the image, the most recent time being last month.
And if you are curious as to what they did after the war: Zion Karasanti became a director and choreographer, founding a dance troupe and performed all over Israel; Yitzhak Yifat became a gynecologist; and Chaim Oshri became a chemist whose research was key in dairy production.
And while politically, they do not all agree
“There is something to be said for that [calling the image the start of the tragedy of the state of Israel] Yifat said. “I don’t believe that we should be ruling over another nation.”
How can you say that as an Israeli who fought for something after 2,000 years of longing?” Karasenti shot back. “We returned the heart of the Jewish people to this land.”
Retorted Yifat: “What am I supposed to tell my grandchildren? That there will be war every year?”
even the most left of them agrees that Israel must retain all of Jerusalem.
While Yifat has publicly expressed some ambivalence about Israel’s rule over Palestinians who live in the territories it took in 1967, he said he had no doubt that Israel must retain all of Jerusalem.
“We fought and lost so many friends to unite Jerusalem for the Jewish world,” he said. “There’s no going backwards.”
