Arthur Szyk, an illuminator and miniaturist, cartoonist and caricaturist, devoted his art to fighting tyranny and evil, particularly as they related to Jewish history. Despite living through an era in which Jews were victims of Russian pogroms and the Holocaust, he frequently represented the heroic fighters of Judaism. He is said to have begun this declaration on May 14, 1948, the day Israeli independence was proclaimed, and worked on it for over six months. At the bottom of the print, Szyk depicts Moses, Aaron, and Hur in military gear. These monumental figures from the Hebrew Bible took part in the battle against the Amalekites, an eternal enemy of the Jewish people. On each side, the heroes of the new state—soldiers and farmers, both female and male—are glorified under the flag of Israel emblazoned with the Star of David.