The Elusive, Impossible, Iconic War Photo
Revisiting the past to unravel the flood of images emerging from the Israel-Hamas War.
David Rubinger hated this photo. Arguably the most iconic and widely-recognized photo in Israeli history, it nearly ended up on the cutting room floor.
On June 7, 1967, Rubinger, covering the Six-Day War for LIFE magazine, reached the Western Wall in Jerusalem minutes after its liberation by Israeli paratroopers.
“The scene around me was extremely emotional,” Rubinger recalled. “People were crying with joy and relief, and I have to admit that, as I shot my pictures, tears were rolling down my cheeks too.”1
After processing his film, Rubinger felt this photo, of Rabbi Shlomo Goren on the shoulders of jubilant soldiers, was his strongest.