May 14, 2018 On the 70th anniversary of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, President Donald Trump fulfills a campaign promise and moves the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Although Israel has made Jerusalem its…
February 15, 2017 During his first month in office, President Donald Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. It is Netanyahu’s first visit to Washington since his speech against the Iran…
Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men hurl rocks at and slash the tires of buses bearing ads on their sides promoting female worship at the Western Wall.
June 25, 2009 Jerusalem holds a $500,000 extravaganza to inaugurate the Chords Bridge, also known as the Bridge of Strings, at the main entrance to the city. Its designer, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, has built…
December 6, 2007 An Israeli archaeological dig discovers the remains of a 2,000-year-old mansion in the Old City of Jerusalem that is believed to have belonged to Queen Helene of Adiabene. Archaeologists say the building…
April 13, 2004 Hapoel Jerusalem captures its first European basketball championship and first international title by winning the ULEB Cup, also known as the EuroCup tournament, with an 83-72 victory over Real Madrid in Charleroi,…
August 19, 2003 A suicide bomber kills 23 people and injures more than 130 others by detonating an 11-pound explosive packed with ball bearings on a bus in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Shmuel Hanavi in…
September 24, 1996 A northern exit from the Western Wall Tunnel to the Via Dolorosa opens to the public, leading to three days of Palestinian riots. The excavation of the tunnel began after Israel’s capture…
In a closed-door address at a Johannesburg mosque, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a brief speech in which he calls for a jihad to liberate Jerusalem.
August 3, 1981 Excavations in Jerusalem’s Area G, on the eastern side of the City of David, are suspended because of attacks on archaeologists at the site by Haredi Jews, most of them part of…
In 1950, the Knesset passes a law that states, “Whereas with establishment of the state of Israel, Jerusalem once more becomes the capital.” In 1980, the Knesset elevates the law to a Basic Law, giving the political status of Jerusalem increased legislative weight.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s plane lands at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport at the start of his historic 36-hour visit to Israel.
July 4, 1975 Fourteen people are killed and 62 others are wounded when a bomb hidden inside a refrigerator explodes in Jerusalem’s Zion Square at 10 a.m. The bomb inside the Amcor-10 refrigerator was built…
August 21, 1969 A new immigrant to Israel, Denis Michael Rohan, sets fire to Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Born and raised in Australia, Rohan moved to Israel only a few months before the attack. He…
A packed audience fills the amphitheater on Mount Scopus to celebrate the end of the June 1967 War and to mark the cultural unification of Jerusalem.
June 28, 1967 Israel publishes the Jerusalem Declaration, announcing the reunification of the ancient holy city under Israeli sovereignty after the Six-Day War, which ended June 10. The announcement comes 23 days after Jordan chose…
Following Israel’s victory and subsequent acquisition of Jordan’s territory along the West Bank of the Jordan River in the war, the Israeli government annexes roughly 70 square kilometers of land next to West Jerusalem.
The Voice of Israel Song Festival was created in 1960 as part of Israel’s Independence Day celebration and as an opportunity to showcase Israel’s emerging culture.
The concept of a national museum originated in the early years of Zionist settlement in the Yishuv. Boris Schatz, the founder of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts, opened the Bezalel Museum in 1912.
February 2, 1965 The Knesset revises the Absentees’ Property Law to allow the Custodian for Absentees’ Property, a state office, to maintain, rent or sell property in Israel held in a waqf, an endowment created…
The trial of Adolf Eichmann, architect of the Nazi Final Solution, begins in front of a special panel of three judges at the Beit Ha’am community center in Jerusalem.
The 2½-year year project culminates with the opening of a water reservoir for Jerusalem at Bayit Vegan.
June 5, 1952 Having been forced to evacuate its campus on Jerusalem’s Mount Scopus after the massacre of 78 medical people April 13, 1948, Hadassah breaks ground on the Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center at…
June 20, 1950 Israel’s first Festival of Jewish Music begins in Jerusalem and runs until July 1. It is arranged by the Music Department of the Israeli government’s Ministry of Education and Culture and the…
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