Labor Politician Eliyahu Speiser Dies
November 12, 2009 Former Knesset member Eliyahu Speiser dies at age 79. Born in Haifa on March 23, 1930, Speiser was educated at the Hebrew Reali School and Hebrew University, where he earned a degree…
Begin and Sadat Win the Nobel Peace Prize
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin are jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to bring about peace between Israel and Egypt.
Ben-Gurion Dies at Age 87
David Ben-Gurion, (born David Gruen) Israel’s first Prime Minister passes away at the Tel Hashomer-Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Aviv at the age of 87.
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.
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.
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.
Gush Emunim Leader Hanan Porat Is Born
December 12, 1943 Hanan Porat, a leader in Israel’s post-1967 settlement movement, is born in Kfar Pines, northeast of Hadera. The family moves in 1944 to Kfar Etzion in the Judean Hills, then returns to…
Louis Brandeis Dies
Louis Brandeis, retired United States Supreme Court Justice and celebrated American Zionist, passes away in Washington DC at the age of 84.
Israeli Spymaster Rafi Eitan Is Born
November 23, 1926 Rafi Eitan, whose intelligence career ranges from the high of capturing Adolf Eichmann in Argentina to the low of handling U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard as a spy, is born on a…
Anwar Sadat Is Born
Born into a family of thirteen children in Mit Abu al-Kum, Egypt, Sadat is a member of the Free Officers movement that overthrew Egypt’s monarchy in 1952. As Egypt’s President, he signs a historic peace agreement with Israel in 1979.
Revisionist Zionist Shmuel Katz Is Born
Shmuel Katz, a leader of Revisionist Zionism and a founder of the Herut Party in Israel, is born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Air Force Founder Yisrael Amir Is Born
November 11, 1902 Yisrael Amir, the first commander in chief of the Israeli Air Force, is born in Vilna in the Russian Empire as Yisrael Zabludovsky. He makes aliyah in 1923 and that year joins…
Levi Eshkol Is Born in Ukraine
Israel’s third prime minister, Levi Eshkol, is born Levi Shkolnik into a Hasidic family near Kyiv, Ukraine.
