Friends of Zion Honor Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem

JERUSALEM, Israel – Forty-nine years ago, the 1967 Six-Day War changed the face of the Middle East and the world. Many saw the war as a fulfillment of prophecy.

When Israeli paratroopers captured the Old City and reunited Jerusalem, it marked the first time in nearly 2,000 years that the Jewish people controlled all of their ancient capital.

Shimon "Katcha" Cahaner helped lead the charge.

"I can tell you just one thing one of the commanders of the Jordan army told me later about the war in Jerusalem," Cahaner said. "He said, 'We fought like lions, but you fought like people ready to give their lives for Jerusalem and for their country."

At a Jerusalem Day event Sunday honoring Cahaner and his men, Michael Evans Jr., the CEO of the Friends of Zion Museum said, "You sounded a call that went through the generations."

"It's so important to have them here today to honor them as heroes, to recognize their efforts on behalf of the Jewish people," Evans told CBN News. "So much of what we're doing today; so much of what we take for granted might not have been possible without them."  
 
The reunion was just one part of Israel's nationwide celebration of Jerusalem Day, a day filled with flag waving and ceremonies to remember the importance of what happened nearly half a century ago.

Many see the reunification of Jerusalem as a milestone in history and prophecy.

"The prophet Isaiah said about Zion, 'Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody' [see Isaiah 51:3]. That's exactly what's happening here," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the Jerusalem Day celebrations.

Michael Freund, founder and chairman of Shavei Yisrael, an organization dedicated to helping descendants of the lost tribes immigrate to Israel, said, "Every time that we walk through a park and see an old couple sitting on a bench, every time that we see a group of young kids playing soccer in Jerusalem, that is the prophecy of Zechariah [Zechariah 8:4-5] coming to life before our eyes."

For the band of brothers who liberated the city, it marked their lives.

"If somebody asked me, 'how would I describe my life?' I would say, Jerusalem," Moshe Mazar, an Israeli soldier who fought in the Six-Day War, said. "Every time I come to Jerusalem, on my way to Jerusalem, when I go up the hill of the Castel, I feel the blossom of my heart. I feel something different."  
 
"Jerusalem is part of our history, you know for sure and everyone know[s] from the Bible about stories about Jerusalem, and I'm not a religious man, but I know what we had to do to be homeland of the Jewish people and that's it," Cahaner said.