Aug. 29, 1897 — First Zionist Congress Starts Spearheaded by “The Jewish State” author Theodor Herzl, the First Zionist Congress opens in Basel, Switzerland, for three days of meetings with roughly 200 attendees. Herzl invites Jews and non-Jews...

July 18, 1290 — England Expels Its Jews King Edward I orders the expulsion of the Jews from England, where they had settled in significant numbers only in the 11th century. Despite gaining legal protections early in the 12th century, Jews suffer massacres...

June 27, 1967 — Israel Annexes East Jerusalem After capturing the roughly 2.3 square miles known as East Jerusalem from Jordan during the war in early June, Israel formally annexes that area and some surrounding West Bank land — a total of 27 square...

May 14, 1947 — Soviet Envoy Backs 1-State Solution Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko addresses a special U.N. General Assembly session on Palestine and calls for the British Mandate to give way to one state shared by Jews and Arabs. But after...

Feb. 29, 1948 — Lehi Bombs Cairo-Haifa Train Lehi militants use mines to bomb train cars carrying British troops on the Cairo-Haifa rail line north of Rehovot, killing at least 27 soldiers. Targeting the troop cars in back spares the civilians in...

Jan. 31, 1922 — Hebrew ‘Dybbuk’ Opens in Moscow The Hebrew version of “The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” begins its successful stage run at Moscow’s Habimah Theater. Written in Russian and then Yiddish by S. Ansky and translated into Hebrew...

Aug. 17, 1898 — Russian Zionists Hold First Conference A few weeks before the Second Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, 160 Russian Zionists meet secretly in Warsaw, where organizer Ahad Ha’am rallies support for a Jewish cultural renaissance...

July 20, 1949 — Syria, Israel Sign Armistice Israel signs an armistice with Syria, the last of four Arab nations to sign such agreements at the end of the War of Independence. Israel signed agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan before opening negotiations...

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 the plane. Four others are...

June 1, 1941 — Farhud Pogrom Strikes Iraq’s Jews Two days of anti-Jewish riots break out in Baghdad, Iraq, during the holiday of Shavuot. The violence kills 180 Jews, wounds more than 240 others, destroys 100 Jewish houses and damages more than 500...

April 27, 1955 — Uzi Is Unveiled During Parade The Uzi submachine gun makes its public debut as an IDF weapon during a Yom HaAtzmaut parade. Named for its inventor, Uziel Gal, the Uzi was first used in the field two months earlier during Operation...

March 23, 1915 — Zion Mule Corps Is Created A Jewish unit of the British army is formed in Alexandria, Egypt, with about 500 volunteers, including many expelled from Palestine because of the Ottoman Empire’s fear of the Jewish population. The idea...