Naharayim Power Plant OpensCIE+
March 9, 1932 Pinhas Rutenberg and the Palestine Electric Co. open a hydroelectric power plant at Naharayim. It supplies much of the electricity in Palestine until its destruction by Iraqi troops during the 1948 War…
Magen David Adom Is FoundedCIE+
The idea of an emergency medical society such as Magen David Adom is revived in response to the 1929 Arab riots against Jewish settlements in Palestine.
Gen. Rafael Eitan Is BornCIE+
January 11, 1929 Rafael Eitan, the 11th chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, is born in Tel Adashim to a mother whose family immigrated to Palestine during the First Aliyah and a father…
Ariel Sharon Is BornCIE+
Ariel Sharon, Israel’s 11th Prime Minister, is born in K’far Malal (near Hod Hasharon). Born Ariel Scheinerman to political, socialist parents who had come to Eretz Yisrael during the Second Aliyah, Sharon joined the Haganah in 1945, serving in the War of Independence.
Israeli Spymaster Rafi Eitan Is BornCIE+
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…
Tehiya Founder Geulah Cohen Is BornCIE+
December 25, 1925 Politician and activist Geulah Cohen, the founder of the Tehiya party, is born in Tel Aviv. Cohen becomes involved with political movements in Mandatory Palestine when she is young, and she joins…
Gen. Haim Bar-Lev Is BornCIE+
November 16, 1924 Haim Bar-Lev, an Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, is born in Vienna, Austria. His family moves to Yugoslavia before settling in Palestine in 1939. He studies at the Mikveh Israel agricultural…
Gen. Avraham Tamir Is BornCIE+
November 9, 1924 Avraham Tamir, a military strategic mastermind who rises to the rank of major general, is born. He is one of the first Israeli officials to meet with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and…
Syria Gains Control of Golan HeightsCIE+
In border designations for states drafted primarily by Britain and France after WWI, the new state of Syria gains control of the Golan Heights.
Yitzhak Rabin Is BornCIE+
Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s 5th Prime Minister, is born in Jerusalem to parents who came to Israel during the Third Aliyah. He is the first Israeli Prime Minister to be born in Eretz Yisrael.
Mossad’s Meir Amit BornCIE+
March 17, 1921 Meir Amit, a career soldier who builds the Mossad into an internationally renowned intelligence agency, is born Meir Slutzky on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias. He attends agricultural…
Riots Break Out in Jerusalem’s Old City During Muslim FestivalCIE+
A Muslim pilgrimage festival erupts into violence against Jews in Jerusalem, leaving nine dead and hundreds wounded.
Arab Raiders Attack Tel HaiCIE+
March 1, 1920 A Shi’ite Arab militia, accompanied by local Bedouins, attacks the Jewish agricultural settlement of Tel Hai, which has served as a border outpost in the Upper Galilee between British-controlled Palestine and French-controlled…
Anwar Sadat Is BornCIE+
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.
Australians Capture Beersheba From OttomansCIE+
As part of the British campaign during World War I, the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade overtake the Turkish defenders and capture Beersheba.
Spy Sarah Aaronsohn DiesCIE+
Sarah Aaronsohn, a Nili intelligence operative, dies four days after shooting herself in an effort to avoid further torture and interrogation by Turkish authorities.
General, Archaeologist Yigael Yadin Is BornCIE+
March 20, 1917 Yigael Yadin, a general known for his archaeological work, is born in Jerusalem. His father is an archaeologist, and his mother is a women’s rights activist. Yadin joins the Haganah when he…
Chaim Weizmann Joins British AdmiraltyCIE+
Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel, then working as a chemist in Manchester, England, is appointed to the British Admiralty as an Honorary Technical Adviser on acetone supplies.
Diplomat, Historian Abba Eban Is BornCIE+
Israeli politician, diplomat, historian, and writer Abba Eban is born in Cape Town, South Africa.
Revisionist Zionist Shmuel Katz Is BornCIE+
Shmuel Katz, a leader of Revisionist Zionism and a founder of the Herut Party in Israel, is born in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Private U.S. Aid Arrives for Jews in Palestine in WWICIE+
Responding to a plea from Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambassador to Turkey and American Jewish leaders, led by Louis Marshall and Jacob Schiff, quickly raise $50,000 in aid for the Jewish community in the Palestine.
Charles Winters Is BornCIE+
Charles Winters, an American who helps Israel acquire fighter planes in 1948, is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Ralph Bunche Is BornCIE+
Ralph Bunche is born in Detroit, Michigan. He is appointed to the UN Special Committee on Palestine in 1947, which is charged with devising a partition plan.
Air Force Founder Yisrael Amir Is BornCIE+
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…
