Sykes-Picot Agreement Proposes Division of Conquered Ottoman Territories
A secret treaty is negotiated to divide the former Ottoman territories between Britain and France.
Correspondence Begins Between Hussein and McMahon
The Husayn-McMahon correspondence commences between the Arab leader Husayn bin-Ali and the British government official Sir Henry McMahon.
Chaim Weizmann Joins British Admiralty
Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel, then working as a chemist in Manchester, England, is appointed to the British Admiralty as an Honorary Technical Adviser on acetone supplies.
Diplomat, Historian Abba Eban Is Born
Israeli politician, diplomat, historian, and writer Abba Eban is born in Cape Town, South Africa.
Revisionist Zionist Shmuel Katz Is Born
Shmuel Katz, a leader of Revisionist Zionism and a founder of the Herut Party in Israel, is born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Private U.S. Aid Arrives for Jews in Palestine in WWI
Responding to a plea from Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambassador to Turkey and American Jewish leaders, led by Louis Marshall and Jacob Schiff, quickly raise $50,000 in aid for the Jewish community in the Palestine.
Charles Winters Is Born
Charles Winters, an American who helps Israel acquire fighter planes in 1948, is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Ralph Bunche Is Born
Ralph Bunche is born in Detroit, Michigan. He is appointed to the UN Special Committee on Palestine in 1947, which is charged with devising a partition plan.
Sixth Zionist Congress Begins
The Sixth Zionist Congress, the last to be presided over by Theodor Herzl, convenes in Basel, Switzerland. It is the largest Zionist Congress held to date, with approximately 600 delegates in attendance.
British Make the Uganda Proposal
British Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain and Theodor Herzl meet to discuss Jewish settlement. At this meeting, Chamberlain proposes that the Jewish state be created in Uganda.
Politician Ya’akov Hazan Is Born
June 4, 1899 Ya’akov Hazan, a leader in socialist politics through Israel’s first four decades, is born in Brest Litovsk, Russia. He is a founder of the Hashomer Hatzair scouting movement in Poland in 1915…
Artist Reuven Rubin Is Born
Reuven Rubin (born Rubin Zelicovici), one of Israel’s most acclaimed painters, is born in Galatz, Romania. Rubin’s family was both very poor and religious.
Blackstone Memorial Is Presented to President Harrison
William E. Blackstone, a Methodist lay leader and real estate investor, petitions President Benjamin Harrison on behalf of creating “a home for these wandering millions of Israel.” The Blackstone Memorial was the name of the signed petition.
British Philanthropist and Zionist Alfred Mond Is Born
An early Zionist supporter in England, Alfred Mond (who would later become the first Lord Melchett) is born in England. Despite the fact that his parents were Jewish, Mond was not raised as a Jew and in fact was married in the Anglican church and raised his children as Christians.
Leo Motzkin Is Born
Raised in a traditional Jewish household, early Zionist activist Leo Motzkin is born in present-day Brovary, Ukraine.
Acre Bombarded
November 3, 1840 A coalition of Austrian, British and Ottoman forces commanded by Austrian Archduke Friedrich bombards the port city of Acre and drives out the Egyptian garrison. More than 1,100 Egyptians are killed in…
9 Jews Freed After Damascus Blood Libel
September 6, 1840 The nine surviving Damascus Jews accused of killing a Franciscan Capuchin friar and his servant to harvest the blood are freed by order of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman pasha who controls an…
Allahdad: Jews Are Forcibly Converted, Massacred in Mashhad, Iran
The tensions between the local Shiite population and Jews erupt in the northeast Iranian city of Mashhad.
France Grants Citizenship to Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews living in France are granted equal rights and given French citizenship by the National Assembly.
French National Assembly Debates Citizenship for Jews
Following the French Revolution and the August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, the issue of Jewish rights is debated in the French National Assembly for three days with no conclusion.
Saladin Captures Jerusalem
Following a siege that began on September 20, Jerusalem falls to Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt.
