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.
Yemeni Jews Are Secretly Flown to Israel
The leader of the Jewish community in Yemen and nine others immigrate to Israel to escape terrorist threats.
Exodus 1947 Commander Yossi Harel Dies
Yossi Harel, commander of the Aliyah Bet ship Exodus, passes away at the age of ninety.
Israel Hosts First International Dance Sport Competition in Ashdod
More than 3,000 spectators attend the Ten Dance European Cup, the first international dance sports competition to be held in Israel.
Rabbi Zerach Warhaftig Dies
Rabbi Zerach Warhaftig, a founder of Israel’s National Religious Party and signatory of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, passes away in Jerusalem at the age of 96.
Aharon Remez, Second Israeli Air Force Commander, Dies
Maj. Gen. Aharon Remez, who led Israel’s Air Force in its early years and served as ambassador to Great Britain, dies in Jerusalem at 74.
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.
Natan Sharansky Reaches Israel
World-famous Soviet refusenik Anatoly Shcharansky is released after eight years in a Siberian labor camp and flies to his new life as Natan Sharansky in Israel.
Operation Moses Begins to Bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel
November 21, 1984 Israel launches Operation Moses, the first of several covert missions to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. The collaboration among the Mossad, the CIA and Sudanese State Security uses more than 30 aircraft…
Prisoners of Zion Arrive in Israel
At Ben-Gurion Airport, five recently released Soviet Jewish prisoners are welcomed by Prime Minister Menachem Begin and cheering crowds. The five had been convicted in a 1970 hijacking plot, attempting to escape the anti-Semitic policies of the Soviet Union at the time.
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…
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.”
Immigrant Ship Kadima Briefly Reaches Haifa
The Aliyah Bet ship Kadima arrives in Haifa under British escort. All of its passengers are arrested and moved to detention camps in Cyprus.
Harrison Report Confirms Deplorable Conditions of DP Camps
The Harrison Report, an inquiry into the conditions of displaced persons camps in occupied Germany, reveals that many of the rumors of poor treatment of Jews are indeed true and that “we appear to be treating the Jews as the Nazis treated them, except that we do not exterminate them.”
Russian Sub Sinks Refugee Ship Struma
After being mistaken as an enemy ship, the SS Struma, carrying nearly 800 Jewish refugees hoping to immigrate into Palestine, including 70 children, is sunk by a Russian submarine in the Black Sea.
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