This week in Israeli History: June 10-16
Published June 10, 2021
June 10, 1964 — National Water Carrier Begins Pumping
Israel’s National Water Carrier starts pumping water out of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) for drinking and agriculture. The 81-mile-long system of pipes, canals, tunnels, reservoirs and pumping stations can carry up to 19 million gallons per hour (1.7 million cubic meters per day). Integrated with most of the water systems in Israel, the National Water Carrier crosses all types of terrain through a variety of elevations.
June 11, 2013 — Google Buys Waze
Google agrees to pay roughly $1 billion for Israel-based social-mapping service Waze, reportedly outbidding Apple and Facebook. Waze attracts the tech giants not with its 50 million users, but with its real-time integration of driver-generated data about accidents, backups, gas prices, speed traps and more to develop ideal road routes. Waze grew out of a program called FreeMap Israel that Ehud Shabtai launched in 2006.
June 12, 2014 — 3 Teens Are Abducted, Killed
Three Israeli young men ages 16 to 19 are abducted while hitchhiking near Alon Shvut in the West Bank. Realizing they are in trouble after taking a ride from two men, one teen calls the police for help. The two attackers, believed to be Hamas members Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisha, hear the call and shoot the hostages. The bodies are found 18 days later. Israel launches Operation Protective Edge against Hamas on July 8.
June 13, 1947 — Diplomat and Judge Elyakim Rubinstein Is Born
Elyakim Rubinstein is born in Tel Aviv. He works as a legal adviser to the Defense and Foreign ministries in the mid-1970s, then joins the Israeli delegation to Egyptian peace talks from 1977 through 1979. He chairs the Israeli delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace conference and to the talks that produce the 1994 treaty with Jordan. He is a judge and the attorney general before serving on the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2017.
June 14, 1985 — TWA Flight 847 Is Hijacked
Two Lebanese terrorists hijack TWA Flight 847 with 139 passengers and eight crew members between Athens and Rome and force the 727 to fly to Beirut. The plane then flies to Algiers, back to Beirut, back to Algiers and again to Beirut over two days. The terrorists kill a U.S. Navy diver and separate possible Jews from the other hostages. They demand the release of 783 prisoners, mostly Lebanese Shiites held by Israel and its allies.
June 15, 1970 — Refuseniks Are Arrested Before Stealing Plane
A plot to steal a commercial aircraft to escape the Soviet Union is foiled when 12 dissidents are arrested at Leningrad’s Smolnoye Airport just before boarding a 12-seat aircraft. Four others are arrested in Priozersk, where the plane is supposed to stop before flying to Sweden. All but two of the 16 are refuseniks, Jews denied the opportunity to emigrate. Their court cases propel the international movement to free Soviet Jewry.
June 16, 1933 — Jewish Agency Official Haim Arlosoroff Is Killed
Two men trap and fatally shoot Haim Arlosoroff on the beach in Tel Aviv. Arlosoroff, who heads the Jewish Agency’s political department, has just returned from a mission to Germany to arrange Jewish emigration in exchange for the import of German goods in Palestine. His political enemies among the Revisionist Zionists are accused of the murder, but they say Arabs intending to assault Arlosoroff’s wife are the culprits. The crime is never solved.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
