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.
Knesset Declares Jerusalem Capital of Israel
By a vote of 60-2, with members of Mapam and Herut abstaining, the Knesset adopts a proclamation declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
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…
Benjamin Netanyahu Is Born in Tel Aviv
Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth and current Prime Minister of Israel, is born in Tel Aviv. Although he spends a good portion of his childhood in Philadelphia, Netanyahu returns to Israel in 1967 to fulfill his service in the IDF.
Compulsory Education Law Is Implemented
The Compulsory Education bill, which had been passed on September 12th, enters into law. It mandates that all children between the ages of 5 and 15 attend a state-recognized educational institution.
Moshe Sharett Updates Knesset on the Status of Israel’s Frontiers
In an address to the Knesset, Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett reconfirms Israel’s willingness to negotiate agreeable and sustainable terms of peace with its neighbors.
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…
U.S. Envoy Conveys Britain’s Fear of Communism in Israel
In a cable to the State Department, US Chargé d’affaires Julius Holmes recounts British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin’s concerns that “within five years, Israel may be a Communist state.”
El Al Is Founded
El Al, Israel’s national airline, is officially incorporated about seven weeks after a repainted military plane used the name while bringing Chaim Weizmann home for Switzerland.
Israel Adopts State Flag
The iconic flag with two blue stripes and a blue Star of David at its center becomes the official Israeli flag more than five months after the establishment of the state.
Palmach Integrates With IDF
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion summons dozens of Palmach commanders for a conference. There he announces a plan to dismantle the elite, underground fighting unit and integrate it into the newly established Israel Defense Forces.
The Altalena Arrives
The Altalena arrives off the coast of Kfar Vitkin from France carrying 900 immigrants and a large stockpile of weapons.
Israel Declares Independence
On Friday afternoon in the Tel Aviv Museum, David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the Provisional State Council, declares Israel’s independence. The United States is the first country to recognize the new and already besieged state of Israel.
U.S. State Department Staff Tries to Stop Palestine Partition
The US State Department prepares a memorandum for Secretary of State George Marshall and President Truman seeking non-implementation of the UN partition resolution (181) on Palestine.
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…
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,…
Labor Zionist Leader Berl Katznelson Dies
Berl Katznelson, a leader in the Labor Zionist movement, dies suddenly at the age of 57 in Jerusalem. His advocacy for the creation of a labor-based society in Israel would eventually form the basis of the Mapai party, which was created in 1930 and would dominate Israeli politics until the late 1970′s.
Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinisch Born
February 28, 1942 Dorit Beinisch, the ninth president of Israel’s Supreme Court, is born Dorit Werba in Tel Aviv to a father who works as a civil servant after arriving from Poland in the 1930s…
Jacob Toledano Is Installed as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv
Jacob Toledano returns to the Land of Israel in early 1942 to take up his new post as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv and Jaffa.
Politician Yossi Sarid Born in Rehovot
Yossi Sarid, a politician on the left known as “Israel’s moral compass,” is born in Rehovot.
Zionist Leader Max Bodenheimer Dies
A close associate of Theodore Herzl, Max Bodenheimer is the first president of the Zionist Federation of Germany and is a leader in the establishment of the Jewish National Fund (JNF). He dies in Jerusalem.
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,…
Mapai Party Is Founded in Tel Aviv
David Ben-Gurion of Ahdut Ha’avodah and Joseph Sprinzak of Hapoel Hatzair recognize that their parties have more in common with each other than they have differences and begin moving towards a merger. The Mapai party is the result.
