This week in Israeli history: Jan. 29-Feb. 4

Published January 30, 2026

Recha Freier receives the Israel Prize from Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1981. Photo: By Chanania Herman, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0

Jan. 29, 2005 — Filmmaker, Writer Ephraim Kishon Dies

Israeli writer, playwright and filmmaker Ephraim Kishon dies at 80 in Switzerland. His works often focus on the daily struggles of regular Israelis and the state bureaucracy. His films include “Sallah Shabati” (1964) and “The Policeman” (1971), both of which won the Golden Globe for foreign film, and his books sell more than 40 million copies. A native of Budapest, he escaped from a Sobibor-bound train during World War II and reached Israel in 1949.

Jan. 30, 1933 — Youth Aliyah Program Is Established

German Zionist Recha Freier founds the Committee for the Assistance of Jewish Youth on the day Adolf Hitler is appointed the chancellor of Germany. Renamed Youth Aliyah, the program rescues more than 11,000 Jewish children during World War II and becomes a signature Hadassah program for bringing children to Israel from various parts of the world, although at first Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold does not support the project.

Jan. 31, 1961 — Ben-Gurion Resigns Over Lavon Affair

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion resigns, triggering an election in August, to protest a Cabinet decision a month earlier to exonerate Pinchas Lavon for his role in a botched spy operation in Egypt in 1954. Lavon had resigned as defense minister at the time, although an investigative committee was inconclusive about what went wrong. The Lavon Affair resurfaced in 1960 over revelations that two senior officers had given false testimony.

Feb. 1, 1885 — Novelist Peretz Smolenskin Dies

Novelist and Hebrew editor Peretz Smolenskin dies of tuberculosis at 43. Born in Russia, he began his writing career while teaching Hebrew in Odesa at 22, then moved to Vienna to lead the Hebrew department of a large press and founded the journal HaShachar (The Dawn). He rejected assimilation and became a strong advocate for Jewish immigration to Palestine after the wave of Russian pogroms in the early 1880s.

Feb. 2, 1915 — Diplomat Abba Eban Is Born

Politician, diplomat and historian Abba Eban is born in South Africa. After moving to England as an infant, he makes aliyah in 1944 and, as part of the Jewish Agency’s delegation to the United Nations, plays a crucial role in the U.N. General Assembly’s passage of the partition plan for Palestine. He serves as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and United States, a member of the Knesset, and the foreign minister.

Feb. 3, 1919 — Zionists Present Case to Peace Conference

A World Zionist Organization delegation led by Chaim Weizmann makes the case for a Jewish homeland in Palestine to the post-World War I Paris Peace Conference. The delegation accepts the proposed British Mandate but, in accord with Britain’s Balfour Declaration, asks that it support Jewish immigration and the eventual establishment of an autonomous commonwealth that will serve as the Jewish national home.

Feb. 4, 1997 — Helicopter Collision Kills 73

Two CH-53 Yasur military helicopters collide in the middle of the night over northern Israel while ferrying troops and munitions to the Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon, killing all 73 military personnel on board. Bedouin, Druze and Jews, secular and religious, are among the victims of the crash, for which a cause is never established. The disaster contributes to Israel’s decision to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000.

Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.