June 28, 1919 — Poland Provides Legal Protections for Jews

The Republic of Poland, reconstituted as an independent country after World War I, adopts its Minorities Treaty to protect various groups. In addition to general assurances, the treaty specifically mentions cultural and civil liberties for Jews, who make up 10% to 15% of the population. The treaty reinforces the Polish Constitution, which also offers civil liberties to minorities and promises to protect them. Poland renounces the treaty in September 1934.

June 29, 1946 — British Round Up Resistance Fighters

The British military launches Operation Agatha, a two-week series of raids against Jewish resistance fighters, on a day that comes to be known as Black Sabbath. Involving 17,000 soldiers, the operation seizes weapons and arrests 2,700 Jews, including future Prime Minister Moshe Sharett, most of whom are held at a special camp at Rafah. Captured documents demonstrate the cooperation among Jewish resistance movements.

June 30, 1937 — Religious Kibbutz Tirat Zvi Is Founded

German, Polish and Russian Jews establish Kibbutz Tirat Zvi in the Beit She’an Valley as one of the first religious kibbutzim. It is just west of the Jordan River and north of what becomes the Jordanian-controlled West Bank. Its name honors Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, a 19th century Zionist leader. The kibbutz is part of the Tower and Stockade movement, an effort to establish facts on the ground to define the borders of a future Jewish state.

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July 1, 1973 — Military Attaché Is Killed in Maryland

Col. Yosef “Joe” Alon, a military attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, is shot five times in his driveway in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and dies within an hour at a hospital. A Voice of Palestine radio broadcast says Alon’s slaying is revenge for the killing two days earlier of the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. No one is ever arrested in the case, which some investigations link to Black September.

July 2, 2010 — Benayoun Signs With Chelsea

Midfielder Yossi Benayoun leaves Liverpool for fellow English Premier League club Chelsea, owned by Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich. Benayoun, born in Dimona in 1980, began his professional soccer career with Hapoel Be’er Sheva at 16 and won a championship with Maccabi Haifa. He moved to Spain’s La Liga in 2002, then to England for West Ham United. He returns to the Israeli professional league in 2014.

July 3, 1904 — Theodor Herzl Dies

Theodor Herzl, the founder of the World Zionist Organization, dies of cardiac sclerosis at 44 in Edlach, Austria, seven years after he organized the First Zionist Congress. His will calls for no speeches, flowers or pomp at his funeral, but 6,000 people follow his hearse to the cemetery. The will also requests that the Jewish people bring his remains to Israel, and his body is reburied on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem in 1949.

July 4, 1976 — Hostages Are Rescued at Entebbe

A team of 200 elite Israeli Sayeret Matkal commandos lands at the international airport in Entebbe, Uganda, to rescue 106 hostages held by the Palestinian and German terrorists who hijacked an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris on June 27. In a 35-minute battle, all seven terrorists, 20 Ugandan soldiers, three hostages and one Israeli soldier (Yoni Netanyahu) are killed. The rescued hostages are flown to freedom in Israel.

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