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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion tried to persuade Albert Einstein to serve as Israel’s second president.

This week in Israeli history: April 15-21

Center for Israel EducationPublished April 15, 2021

April 15, 1945 — Bergen-Belsen Is Liberated The British 11th Armored Division liberates the Nazis’ Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne Frank is among an estimated 50,000 Jews and others who die in the final two years of World War II. About...

U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold, shown outside the headquarters in the 1950s, failed to persuade Egypt to allow Israeli cargo through the Suez Canal. 

This week in Israeli history: Israeli commandos raid Beirut, suicide bombing in Haifa

Center for Israel Education (israeled.org)Published April 8, 2021

April 8, 1960 — U.N. Head Protests Egyptian Seizure of CargoU.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold for the first time publicly criticizes Egypt for confiscating Israeli cargo on ships passing through the Suez Canal. Israel fought Egypt in 1956 in large...

This week in Israel history

Center for Israel Education (israeled.org)Published January 28, 2021

Jan. 28, 1996 — Dumping of Ethiopian Blood Sparks RiotsAbout 10,000 Ethiopian Jews demonstrate outside Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ office to protest the government’s decision to accept blood donations from thousands of Ethiopian Israelis, only...

Eliyahu Dobkin and Henrietta Szold visit the Atlit transit camp in Palestine in 1943 to meet child refugees being brought from Europe via Tehran, Iran. Photo by Zoltan Kluger, Israeli National Photo Collection 

This week in Israeli history: Dec. 31-Jan. 6

By the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org)Published December 31, 2020

Dec. 31, 1898: Israel Museum Founder Is BornEliyahu Dobkin, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who founds the Israel Museum, is born in Bobruysk, Belarus. He immigrates to Palestine in 1932. He works with the Jewish Agency’s immigration department...

JULY 2 - Yossi Benayoun plays for Chelsea during the 2010-11 season.

This week in Israeli history: July 2 – July 8

Published July 2, 2020

July 2, 2010: Benayoun signs with ChelseaIsraeli 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...

JUNE 18 - Mordecai Ardon influenced Israeli art through his painting and his teaching. 

This week in Israeli history

Published June 18, 2020

June 18, 1992: Painter Mordecai Ardon diesPainter Mordecai Ardon dies at age 95 in Jerusalem. He studied with the Bauhaus school in Berlin, and he changed his name from Max Bronstein a few years after making aliyah in 1933. His work featured symbolism,...

JAN31: Actress Hanna Rovina stars in the premiere of “The Dybbuk” in Moscow.

This week in Israeli history

Published January 30, 2020

Jan. 30, 1958: U.S. Commits to Baghdad PactDuring a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles says the United States is committed to the defense of the Baghdad Pact nations: the Muslim-majority states of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and...

Petah Tikvah is shown in 1936, two years short of its 60th anniversary. Photo: by Zoltan Kluger, Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history

By the Center for Israel EducationPublished November 2, 2018

Nov. 1, 1965: 6th Knesset Elected: In elections for the sixth Knesset, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol retains his office as the Alignment, a left-leaning merger of Eshkol’s Mapai and Ahdut Ha’Avoda, wins 45 of the 120 seats. Rafi, a Mapai breakaway founded...

Dalia Itzik presides over the opening of the Knesset in October 2008, while President Shimon Peres addresses the legislature. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, Government Press Office (GPO)

This week in Israeli history

By the Center for Israel EducationPublished October 18, 2018

Oct. 18, 1991: Israeli-Soviet thawThe Soviet Union and Israel resume full diplomatic relations for the first time since June 1967. The two countries experienced a thaw while Mikhail Gorbachev led the Soviet Union and established consular ties in 1987....

Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Dec. 10, 1994. Photo by Saar Yaacov, Israel's Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history

By the Center for Israel EducationPublished October 11, 2018

Oct. 11, 1938 — Arab Congress Rejects Partition: Arab leaders conclude a four-day conference in Cairo by adopting the Resolutions of the Inter-Parliamentary Congress, a response to the proposal of the British Peel Commission in 1937 to partition Palestine...

Mordechai Vanunu was brought back to Israel to face espionage charges. 

This week in Israeli history

By the Center for Israel EducationPublished September 28, 2018

Sept. 27, 1950: Third Maccabiah Games: The Third Maccabiah Games, originally scheduled for 1938 but canceled by the British, begin in the 50,000-seat stadium in Ramat Gan. The first games held in an independent Israel draw 800 athletes from 20 countries. Sept....

The Israeli Olympic team poses with the cast of a Munich performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” on Sept. 4, 1972, hours before the Sept. 5 attack by Black September.

This week in Israeli history

Provided by the Center for Israel EducationPublished August 31, 2018

Aug. 30, 1944 — Harold MacMichael Ends Term in Palestine: Rattled by numerous attempts on his life and fearing for the safety of his family, Harold MacMichael resigns as Britain’s fifth high commissioner to Palestine after more than six years, a...

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