On 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion arrives at the Tel Aviv Museum to be welcomed by a throng of supporters. Stepping out of his limousine, he gives the crowd a salute before hurrying towards the building’s entrance. The de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine – or yishuv – then enters the museum’s main hall and, standing beneath two Israeli flags and a portrait of Zionism’s most influential proponent, Theodor Herzl, declares: “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the State of Israel.”