Eshkol, Alignment Win Sixth Knesset Election
The 1965 election preparations began in June 1963 when David Ben-Gurion resigned as Prime Minister for the second time.
Educator and Politician Chaim Boger Dies
June 8, 1963 Chaim Boger, a founder of the first Hebrew high school in the Yishuv, the area of Jewish settlement in pre-state Palestine, dies at age 86. Boger, born with the last name Bograshov…
Zalman Shazar Is Elected as Israel’s Third President
Shazar, a drafter of Israeli’s declaration of Independence who had helped Jews make Aliyah from Russia in the 1920s, becomes Israel’s third President.
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Passes Away
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Israel’s second President and celebrated historian, passes away at the age of 78.
Politician Moshe Feiglin Is Born
July 31, 1962 Right-wing activist and politician Moshe Feiglin is born in Haifa to a family who came to the Land of Israel during the First Aliyah late in the 19th century. Feiglin serves as…
Ben-Gurion Resigns Over Lavon Affair
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion resigns as a result of the controversial, covert operation in Egypt, setting the stage for new elections in the summer of 1961.
Ben-Gurion Visits Eisenhower
March 10, 1960 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower meet for more than two hours at the White House. “This was the first opportunity I have had of seeing President Eisenhower…
Politician Nir Barkat Born
Nir Barkat is born in Jerusalem. He serves as the city’s mayor from 2008 to 2018, then joins the Likud party to run for the Knesset.
General and Politician Benny Gantz Is Born
June 9, 1959 Benjamin “Benny” Gantz, who rises to chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a top candidate for prime minister, is born in Kfar Ahim. His father is a native of…
Prominent Israeli Politician Tzipi Livni Is Born
Tzipi Livni is born in Tel Aviv to two prominent figures of the Irgun. A graduate of Bar-Ilan University’s school of law, she later serves in the Israeli Army, Mossad, and works as an attorney before entering politics.
First Basic Law of Israel Is Established
The first of eleven Basic Laws is issued by the Israeli parliament. Basic Laws are originally intended to form the basis of an Israeli Constitution, but the constitution remains unwritten.
Knesset Debates Israeli Withdrawal From Sinai
The Knesset debates Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s announcement that Israeli troops would withdraw from Sinai following the 1956 Suez War.
Eshkol Approves Building Ashdod
May 1, 1956 Finance Minister Levi Eshkol authorizes the establishment of the city of Ashdod along the Mediterranean coast between Ashkelon and Tel Aviv on land rich in history, including the Arab-Israeli conflict. The name…
Ben-Gurion Regains Premiership
November 2, 1955 Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, assumes the premiership again, replacing Moshe Sharett, who had succeeded him. Ben-Gurion had retired from Israeli politics in 1953 and went to live on a Negev…
39 Egyptians, 8 Israelis Killed in IDF Raid on Gaza
Two Israeli paratrooper platoons made up of approximately fifty IDF soldiers storm an Egyptian army camp in Gaza. The raid is a reprisal for continued fedayeen (Palestinian militants) attacks against Israeli civilians.
Ben-Gurion Returns to Government
February 21, 1955 Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ends his 14-month semiretirement from politics to replace Pinhas Lavon as the defense minister in Prime Minister Moshe Sharett’s Cabinet. Ben-Gurion has remained a member of the…
Knesset Establishes Bank of Israel
The Knesset passes the Bank of Israel Law by a vote of fifty-five to zero with fourteen abstentions. The new law, which goes into effect on December 1, 1954, establishes the Bank of Israel as the central financial authority for the country.
Ben-Gurion Resigns, Is Succeeded by Sharett
December 7, 1953 Israel’s founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who declared Israel’s independence as the head of a provisional government May 14, 1948, announces his resignation and his plan to retire to Kibbutz Sde Boker…
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Is Inaugurated as Israel’s Second President
At the end of the traditional thirty-day mourning period for Israel’s first President Chaim Weizmann, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi is inaugurated as Israel’s second President in a Knesset ceremony.
First President Chaim Weizmann Dies
Chaim Weizmann, a leader of the Zionist movement and the first president of the State of Israel, dies in Rehovot after a yearlong illness.
Dalia Itzik Is Born
Dalia Itzik is born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi immigrants. In the Seventeenth Knesset (2006), she becomes the first woman to serve as Speaker of the Knesset.
Jordan’s King Abdullah Assassinated
July 20, 1951 Abdullah I, the founding king of Jordan, is assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist at the Al Aqsa Mosque entrance in Jerusalem. The king’s bodyguards immediately shoot the assassin dead. Abdullah’s grandson, Hussein,…
David Ben-Gurion Visits Tennessee Valley Authority Projects
Ben-Gurion’s trip, the first visit by an Israeli Prime Minister to the US, includes a tour of hydroelectric and water projects in Tennessee and Alabama.
Harari Proposal Passes, Ending Prospects for an Israeli Constitution
After more than a year of continued debate on the issue, the First Knesset adopts the “Harari Resolution,” which stipulated that the “constitution” of Israel would be composed of a series of Basic Laws approved by the Knesset.
