Shin Bet Head Ami Ayalon Is Born
June 27, 1945 Ami Ayalon, who leads the Shin Bet and the Israeli navy, is born in Tiberias. He serves in the navy from 1963 to 1996. He volunteers for the Shayetet 13 commando unit,…
Avraham (Granot) Granovsky Is Born
Avraham (Granot) Granovsky, a signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and Director-General of the Jewish National Fund, is born in Moldova.
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…
Teddy Kollek Is Born
Teddy Kollek, Zionist leader and long-time mayor of Jerusalem, is born in Nagyvázsony, Hungary.
Spy Shulamit Cohen-Kishik Dies
May 21, 2017 Former Mossad agent Shulamit “Shula” Cohen-Kishik dies at age 100 at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. She was born in Buenos Aires and raised between the Argentinian capital and Jerusalem. At…
Miriam Ben-Porat Is Appointed Supreme Court Justice
Judges Miriam Ben-Porat and Shimon Asher are appointed to Israel’s Supreme Court by President Ephraim Katzir. Ben-Porat is the first woman to serve as a judge in Israel’s highest court.
Knesset Votes in Favor of Golan Heights Law
In a quickly organized and somewhat surprising move, the Knesset votes to annex the Golan Heights by a vote of 63-21.
Ben-Gurion Rejects International Status for Jerusalem
December 5, 1949 Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declares in a Knesset speech that “Jewish Jerusalem is an organic, inseparable part of the state of Israel” and that Israel rejects any attempt by the United Nations…
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Resigns
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigns amid charges of corruption and financial improprieties.
Shimon Peres Becomes Prime Minister
Shimon Peres becomes Israel’s eighth Prime Minister. He moves swiftly to form a coalition government.
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 and Judge Elyakim Rubinstein Is Born
June 13, 1947 Elyakim Rubinstein, whose law career leads him to diplomacy and the Israeli Supreme Court, is born in Tel Aviv. After his military service, he earns bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Hebrew…
Politician Zevulun Hammer Is Born
May 31, 1936 National Religious Party politician Zevulun Hammer is born in Haifa. Hammer participates in the Zionist youth group Bnei Akiva and serves in the Israel Defense Forces’ Armored Corps with the Nahal program,…
Sharon Singles Out Arafat After Haifa Bombing
March 31, 2002 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat “the enemy of Israel and the enemy of the free world” in an angry, five-minute, mid-Passover address to the nation after…
Yigael Yadin Born
March 20, 1917 Yigael Yadin, a general also known for his archaeological work, is born in Jerusalem. His father is an archaeologist, and his mother is a women’s rights activist. Yadin joins the Haganah when…
MK Basel Ghattas Accepts Plea Deal
March 16, 2017 Basel Ghattas, an Arab member of the Knesset for the Joint List, signs a plea deal to resolve charges that he used his position as a Knesset member to smuggle cellphones and…
Justice Haim Herman Cohn Born
March 11, 1911 Haim Herman Cohn, a lifelong fighter for human rights who organizes Israel’s judicial system, is born in Lubeck, Germany. As a child, Cohn studies Hebrew and the Talmud with his grandfather, then…
Ben-Gurion Forms First Elected Government
March 8, 1949 David Ben-Gurion’s Knesset-leading Mapai party joins the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardi and Mizrahi Communities, and the Arab-led Democratic List of Nazareth to form a government after Israel’s first…
Labor Politician Aharon Zisling Born
February 26, 1901 Aharon Zisling, one of Israel’s founding fathers, is born in the Russian Empire in Minsk, now the capital of Belarus. He immigrates to Palestine in 1914 during the Second Aliyah and emerges…
Netanyahu Wins Election by Finishing Second
February 10, 2009 In the election for the 18th Knesset, the centrist Kadima party of acting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the acting prime minister, wins the most seats with 28, defying polls that give the…
Gush Emunim Established
February 7, 1974 Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful), a settler movement closely tied to the National Religious Party, is founded by followers of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook, including Hanan Porat, Haim Drukman and Rabbi…
Israel Swaps 430+ Prisoners for Man, 3 Bodies
January 29, 2004 Israel releases more than 430 Arab prisoners — more than 400 to the Palestinian Authority, 29 to surrounding Arab nations, and one German citizen who worked with Hezbollah to Germany, from where…
Law Passed to Prevent Discrimination in Schools
December 4, 2000 The Knesset passes legislation proposed by Ehud Barak, who is Israel’s education minister as well as its prime minister, to prevent discrimination in schools and educational centers. The Pupils’ Rights Law draws…
Yigal Allon Dies
Yigal Alon, born in 1918 in Kfar Tabor, begins his career in the Haganah. Later elected to the Knesset in 1954, he remains a parliament member until his death.
