17 Jews Evacuated in Final Yemen Airlift
March 21, 2016 The Jewish Agency secretly brings 17 Yemeni Jews to Israel, completing an effort in recent years that snuck roughly 200 Jews from Yemen to Israel amid Yemen’s civil war. “From Operation Magic…
British Zionist Leader Arieh Handler Dies
Handler moves to Israel in 1948, taking a leadership role in Hapoel Ha-Mizrahi. In 2006, at the age of ninety, he makes Aliyah to Israel for a second time.
Exodus 1947 Commander Yossi Harel Dies
Yossi Harel, commander of the Aliyah Bet ship Exodus, passes away at the age of ninety.
Operation Solomon Rescues Ethiopian Jews
May 25, 1991 Operation Solomon flies more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours using 34 airplanes, including a Boeing 747 that sets a record with 1,087 passengers. The operation brings almost twice…
Israeli Idol Hagit Yaso Born
Singer Hagit Yaso, a winner of Israel’s version of “American Idol,” is born in Sderot to parents who escaped poor conditions in an Ethiopian village by walking four months through the desert to reach Sudan and fly to Israel.
Israeli Black Panthers Meet With Prime Minister Meir About Mizrahi Jews
Emerging in the early seventies, to protest against the social injustices felt by the Mizrahi Jews in Israel, the Black Panthers staged a number of demonstrations in the country and began to generate widespread support.
Refuseniks Arrested Before Flight
June 15, 1970 A dozen Soviet dissidents are arrested at Leningrad’s Smolnoye Airport just before boarding a 12-seat Antonov AN-2 aircraft for an attempt to fly to freedom. Also arrested are four conspirators in the…
Operation Yachin Begins Bringing Jews From Morocco
November 28, 1961 Israel launches Operation Yachin to enable members of the 2,000-year-old Moroccan Jewish community to make aliyah. By the time the operation ends in 1964, more than 97,000 Jews emigrate from Morocco via…
Oil Is Found in Heletz
September 26, 1955 Oil is discovered in Heletz, a moshav in southern Israel that becomes the site of the state’s first successful oil well. The Heletz field, containing an estimated 94.4 million barrels of oil,…
First Israelis Move into Dimona
In the south of Israel, the development town of Dimona is populated entirely by Mizrahim (Jewish immigrants from Arab lands). It receives municipal status in 1969.
Law of Return Is Enacted
Introduced as part of a festive legislative session marking the anniversary of Theodor Herzl’s death, the Law of Return creates an open-door immigration policy for Jews throughout the world.
Airlift of Iraqi Jews Begins
Following the passage of March 1950 law allowing Jews to leave Iraq, the Ministry of Aliyah in Israel develops a plan to facilitate their immigration to Israel.
Iraq Allows Jews to Leave
March 3, 1950 The Iraqi government retracts a policy banning emigration to move to Israel, on the condition that Jews give up their Iraqi citizenship when they leave the country. In addition, those who previously…
Kibbutz Givat Brenner Is Established
Originally working as laborers in surrounding agricultural communities, the founding members of Givat Brenner establish agricultural and industrial infrastructure for the kibbutz, quickly making it financially stable and self-sustaining.
British White Paper Restricts Jewish Immigration and Land Purchase
The 1939 White Paper signaled Britain’s readiness to relegate the Jews in Palestine to minority status in a future majority-Arab state.
Kfar Ruppin Is Founded
Kibbutz Kfar (Village) Ruppin is established under the framework of the “Tower and Stockade” movement in Zionism, which takes place primarily between 1936-1939.
Zionist Leaders Debate Land Purchase Strategies
Zionist leaders debate how to confront proposed British restrictions on Jewish land purchase in Palestine.
Restrictive U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 Boosts Jewish Immigration to Palestine
Unable to immigrate to the US, many European Jews immigrate to the land of Israel. Between 1924 and 1929, the period known as the Fourth Aliyah, 82,000 Jews arrive in Palestine.
Keren Hayesod Is Founded
December 24, 1920 The World Zionist Congress in London launches Keren Hayesod (Hebrew for the Foundation Fund, now known in English as the United Israel Appeal) to raise money for the Zionist movement and fulfill…
David Ben-Gurion Arrives in Jaffa
David Gruen, who in 1910 would change his name to David Ben-Gurion, and his girlfriend Rachel Nelkin arrive in Jaffa with a group of other young adults from Plonsk, Poland.
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.
Joseph Trumpeldor Is Born
Known for dying while defending the Jewish settlement of Tel Hai in 1920, Joseph Trumpeldor, a Zionist political activist and military hero, is born in Pyatigorsk, Russia.
