Iconic image: Three paratroopers standing at the Western Wall

I love looking up iconic historic photos.

This photo shows Israeli paratroopers just moments after taking the Western Wall on 7 June 1967.

It is a beautiful moment because, since 1948, Jewish peoples had been denied access to the Wall.

The Western Wall is in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is part of East Jerusalem. After the 1948 war, it was taken by the Hashemite Kingdom. In 1967, during the Yom Kippur war, the Israeli PM warned King Hussein against engaging in hostilities with Egypt against Israel. King Hussein felt that he had been hamstrung by his earlier pronouncements on attacking Israel, and so he authorised the shelling of West Jerusalem. His campaign resulted in the Israeli seizure of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. (I agree this principle. I think nations which successfully defeat an enemy in self-defence are entitled to annex territory for their defence & interest and for deterrence purposes. If the war went the other way, the whole world would never have come to Israel’s defence.)

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From the Guardian’s obituary “Veteran Israeli photographer David Rubinger dies aged 92”:

Veteran Israeli photographer David Rubinger, whose photo of Israeli paratroopers at the Western Wall holy site became one of the defining images of the 1967 six-day war, has died aged 92.

Rubinger was a photojournalist for Time-Life magazine. His portraits span the history of Israel, from the frontlines of Israel’s major wars to intimate photos of Israeli prime ministers and Jewish immigrants.

His most famous photo was of the paratroopers after Israeli forces captured the Western Wall and East Jerusalem.

Rubinger reportedly said even though it was his most famous, he did not think it was a very good photograph: “Part of the face is cut off on the right side, in the middle the nose protrudes, and on the left there’s only half a face … photographically speaking, this isn’t a good photo.”

Rubinger was born in Vienna in 1924 and immigrated to Palestine in 1939. He discovered photography while serving in the British army’s Jewish Brigade in the second world war. He was awarded Israel’s highest honour, the Israel Prize, in 1997.