November 4, 1966 Egypt and Syria sign a mutual defense treaty and create a joint military command. The move comes amid constant low-level violence on the Israeli-Syrian border, characterized by Syrian guerrilla raids and shelling…
Known as Operation Diamond, the plan to recover a functional, Russian-made MIG-21 fighter jet succeeds after the Mossad cuts a deal with disillusioned Iraqi-Christian fighter pilot Munir Redfa. As part of the deal, Redfa receives $1 million, Israeli citizenship for himself and his family, and guaranteed full-time employment.
May 19, 1966 The Johnson administration announces that it will sell A-4 Skyhawk light bombers to Israel, marking the first sale of U.S. warplanes to Israel and a shift from France to the United States…
February 23, 1966 Saleh Jadid launches a coup of young army officers against a Syrian government of old-guard members of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party who themselves seized power in a coup in 1963. The…
July 15, 1965 In a speech to a graduating class of Israel Defense Forces officers, IDF Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin addresses ongoing Arab efforts to divert the sources of the Jordan River. Syria hasn’t…
May 18, 1965 Eli Cohen is hanged in Marjeh Square in Damascus after being convicted of spying for Israel and being sentenced to death March 31, 1965. Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1924…
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is established during a Palestinian National Council meeting of nearly 400 delegates convened by King Hussein of Jordan.
Syrian police raid the home of Damascus businessman Kamel Amin Tha’abet, who is in fact a Mossad Spy named Eli Cohen, and arrest him on charges of espionage.
June 9, 1959 Benjamin “Benny” Gantz, who rises to chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and a top candidate for prime minister, is born in Kfar Ahim. His father is a native of…
January 30, 1958 At a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles tells Baghdad Pact states that the United States is committed to assisting their defense programs. This statement is seen…
September 30, 1957 French Prime Minister Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury backdates to today his signature on a letter granting Israel’s request for France’s cooperation in building a heavy-water nuclear reactor and reprocessing facility. He actually signs the…
The Knesset debates Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s announcement that Israeli troops would withdraw from Sinai following the 1956 Suez War.
IDF troops kill 48 Israeli Arabs returning from their fields at dusk.
Killed in an ambush along the Gaza border, Ro’i Rothberg is eulogized by Moshe Dayan. Rothberg becomes a symbol for the inability to achieve peace in Israel’s early years.
January 25, 1956 Abba Eban, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, and John Foster Dulles, the U.S. secretary of state, discuss a proposal for the United States to sell Israel $50 million worth of weapons…
November 2, 1955 Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, assumes the premiership again, replacing Moshe Sharett, who had succeeded him. Ben-Gurion had retired from Israeli politics in 1953 and went to live on a Negev…
September 27, 1955 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser uses a speech at a military exhibition to announce that Czechoslovakia will supply heavy Soviet weaponry to his nation. The deal is said to be worth more…
July 27, 1955 Bulgarian fighter jets shoot down El Al Flight 402 en route from London’s Heathrow Airport to Israel. The weekly flight is scheduled for two stops before reaching Lod Airport: Vienna, Austria, and…
April 27, 1955 The Israeli public receives its first look at the Uzi submachine gun in the hands of Israel Defense Forces troops during a Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) parade. The weapon had its first…
Two Israeli paratrooper platoons made up of approximately fifty IDF soldiers storm an Egyptian army camp in Gaza. The raid is a reprisal for continued fedayeen (Palestinian militants) attacks against Israeli civilians.
The Israel Prize, an annual award presented in a variety of cultural and scientific categories and considered as the highest honor in the country, is awarded for the first time to nine individuals in seven fields.
December 13, 1949 Prime Minster David Ben-Gurion appoints Reuven Shiloah, a former Jewish Agency official and a Foreign Ministry special operations adviser, to establish and lead the Institute for Collating and Coordinating Intelligence Operations, the…
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.
Israel’s War of Independence ends in 1949 with the signing of armistice agreements between the newly established Jewish state and four Arab states. Separate agreements are signed with each state.
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