The ENTIRE History of Israel in 13 Minutes | The Most Fought-Over Land on Earth

Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged twenty-three times, attacked fifty-two more, and captured and recaptured forty-four times. It is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and today two peoples both claim it as their capital. This is the story of Israel, and of the land it stands on: a narrow corridor between the sea and the desert that every army between Egypt and Mesopotamia had to cross. From the first mention of Israel on an Egyptian stone in 1208 BC, the Philistines, King David and Solomon's Temple, Babylon and the exile, the Maccabees, and Rome's destruction of the Second Temple; through eighteen centuries of empires, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa, the crusades, the Ottomans, and the Jewish world in exile; to Herzl, the revival of Hebrew, the Balfour Declaration, the Holocaust, 1948 as both independence and Nakba, the Six-Day War, the occupation, Sadat, Oslo and Rabin, the intifadas, 7 October and the war in Gaza. Two peoples. One small land. Neither of them leaving. CHAPTERS 0:00 The most fought-over city 0:38 The corridor 0:55 Canaan and the first Israel 1:17 David and Solomon 1:35 Assyria and Babylon 1:51 Cyrus and the return 2:01 The Maccabees 2:12 Rome and the Temple 2:48 Christians and Muslims 3:22 Crusaders and Ottomans 3:34 The Jewish world in exile 4:16 Ottoman Palestine 4:37 Pogroms and Herzl 5:10 Reviving Hebrew 5:32 The land was not empty 5:48 Britain's promises 6:06 Riots and revolt 6:25 The Holocaust 6:40 Partition 7:04 1948: Independence 7:22 1948: The Nakba 7:37 After 1948 8:05 The Six-Day War 8:31 Munich and Yom Kippur 8:45 Sadat and Lebanon 9:02 The First Intifada and new arrivals 9:16 Oslo and Rabin 9:31 The Second Intifada 9:44 Gaza and Hamas 9:56 Tech and the Abraham Accords 10:10 7 October 10:29 The Gaza war 11:11 Forty-four times 11:26 Thanks for watching Tell us in the comments — which part of this story surprised you most? This documentary is based on historical sources and academic research, and uses illustrated reconstructions to bring the story to life. Some imagery is AI-assisted. Casualty figures are attributed to their sources in the narration. #Israel #Palestine #Jerusalem #IsraelHistory #HistoryOfIsrael #MiddleEast #JewishHistory #PalestinianHistory #WorldHistory #History #Documentary #HistoryDocumentary