JERUSALEM, Israel  – Close to the heart of Jerusalem’s city center, not far from the Old City walls, is a greenspace called Liberty Bell Park. In it stands a replica of the original Liberty Bell at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.

The park and the bell, designed in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial, are a reminder of the connections between the founding of the United States and the founding of modern Israel.

As part of this week’s Jerusalem Dateline Independence Day special, CBN News’ Paul Strand visited there recently with Israeli columnist and commentator Gil Troy and CBN News Middle East analyst John Waage, to talk about the historic freedom connection between the two nations.