Shimon Peres Is Born

Shimon Peres Is Born

The only politician in Israeli history to hold the positions of both President and Prime Minister, Shimon Peres is born in Belorussia to Yitzchak and Sara Perski.

Opera Launched in Palestine

Opera Launched in Palestine

July 28, 1923 Mordechai Golinkin’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata” marks the beginning of opera in Mandatory Palestine. Because Palestine has no opera house, the performance is in a movie theater. Golinkin, who wrote…

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Dies

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda Dies

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, considered the “father of modern Hebrew,” dies from tuberculosis at the age of 64 in Jerusalem. Thirty thousand mourners attend his funeral on the Mount of Olives.

Today in Israeli History|December 16, 1922
Nazi-Hunter Tuviah Friedman Born

Nazi-Hunter Tuviah Friedman Born

January 23, 1922 Tuviah Samuel Friedman, a Nazi-hunter known as “the Merciless One,” is born in Radom, Poland. Friedman survives several concentration camps during the Holocaust, which kills his parents and two siblings. As a…

Today in Israeli History|January 23, 1922
Mossad’s Meir Amit Born

Mossad’s Meir Amit Born

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…

Keren Hayesod Is Founded

Keren Hayesod Is Founded

December 24, 1920 The World Zionist Congress in London launches Keren Hayesod (Hebrew for the Foundation Fund, now known in English as the United Israel Appeal) to raise money for the Zionist movement and fulfill…

Today in Israeli History|December 24, 1920
Arab Raiders Attack Tel Hai

Arab Raiders Attack Tel Hai

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…

Republic of Poland Minorities Treaty Is Signed

Republic of Poland Minorities Treaty Is Signed

During the Paris Peace Conference, one of the major initiatives undertaken by the Allies is recognition of minority rights in European states. While addressing the rights of minorities in general, the Polish Treaty specifically mentions Jewish cultural and civil liberties.

Balfour Declaration Is Released

Balfour Declaration Is Released

In seeking official government endorsement for the Zionist cause from a great power, the leadership of the Zionist Organization successfully obtains support from the British government in 1917 by way of the Balfour Declaration.

Today in Israeli History|November 2, 1917