Past May Events for Israel and World Jewry



Every month, I’m confronted with the same quandary: Which historical events to  include in my obviously, only-partial, compilation of what occurred in the World of Israel and Jews in that month in past years. Sadly there’s never a lack of material to consider. And of course it’s always a very personal selection.

For the month of May, there are though some very-obvious historical events for Israel for the month of May, rooted in the Holocaust, Israel’s rebirth and Israel’s ongoing fight for survival.

Starting with Israel’s 1948 Declaration of Independence which, within minutes of being announced, was followed by the US (De Facto) recognition of Israel by President Truman.  The U.S. thus becoming the first country in the World to recognize Israel.  Regrettably Israel’s Arab neighbors responded rather differently to Israeli statehood by seeking to strangle the new Jewish State  in its infancy (resulting in what Palestinians have termed “The Nakba.”

Public Domain

Other past May “Highlights” for Israel included…

1948: New President of Israel, Chaim Weizmann meets with President Truman in Washington DC….1949: Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations….1950: The start of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah Bringing Iraqi Jews to Israel….1951: The famed meeting of Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion with Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey… 1960: Ben-Gurion announced the capture of Adolf Eichmann…Two years later (Midnight May 31/June 1, 1962), Eichmann was hanged….In1991: Operation Solomon: The bringing of Ethiopian Jews to Israel

War Making…
1948: Kfar Etzion Massacre ….In 1964: The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in East Jerusalem. 1965: Syria Hangs “Our Man in Damascus” Elie Cohen.  While the 1967 “Six Day War” obviously broke out in June 1967; the circumstances directly leading to the war occurred in May 1967. These included UN Secretary General U Thant immediately complying with Egypt’s demand to remove  UN peace keeping troops from the Sinai. (Not the first and not the last time the UN’s actions have proven harmful to Israel!) Egypt closed the Straits of Tirana (which was itself a”Casus Belli”). 
Egyptian President Nasser threatened to destroy Israel if it came to war. (It was notable that Martin Luther King and Reinhold Niebuhr were among US clergy who  Urged Us Support for Israel)

Peace Making
In 1974 Israel and Syria Sign a Disengagement of Forces agreement (brokered by Henry Kissinger’s famed “Shuttle Diplomacy.”)….1983 (May 17) Lebanon Agreement with Israel …1994: Israel and the PLO signing the Gaza-Jericho Accord (“Oslo II”)…. 2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon

Israel’s War against terrorism
In 1972: The storming of the hijacked Sabena aircraft (with Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu among those in the storming party.) By the end of May in 1972, the  horrendous massacre at Lod (now Ben-Gurion airport) Los Airport massacre by three members of the Japanese Red Army. In 1974: Another terrorist slaughter: The Maalot Massacre
.  In 1985: Mass Prisoner exchange: 1100 Palestinian prisoners (including Hamas founder, Sheikh Yassin) in exchange for 3 Israeli POWs – a harbinger of vastly disproportionate exchange of prisoners. In 2004: Marwan Barghouti was convicted in court of 5 counts of Murder.   2001: Operation Guardians of the Wall..2010: The Turkish Mavi Mamora part of the “Gaza Flotilla” saw 10 people killed and damaged Turkish-Israeli relations.

Israel’s Domestic matters
Three important Israeli General elections: May 1977: Menachem Begin’ Likud came to power…1996: Bibi Netanyahu defeats Simon Peres …1999: Ehud Barak defeated Netanyahu.  And 1963: – Zalman Shazar was elected As Israel’s 3rd President; (remained President for 10 years). In 1965: The Israeli Museum opened in Jerusalem….In May, 1967: Just weeks before the unification of Jerusalem;  the first performance of the now- immortal song, “Jerusalem of Gold.”  …A year later, May 1968: TV finally comes to Israel.

Pre-1948 affecting Jews
In May, 1860 – Theodor Herzl born  was born in Austria-Hungary…And in 1898, Golda Meir was born in Kyiv in the Ukraine…1916: The  Sykes Picot agreement… 1938 England National Football (Soccer) team Nazi salute in Berlin
…1939: The infamous British White Paper…  1939 Voyage of Saint Louis…1940 Winston Churchill made his Maiden “Blood toil, tears and sweat” address as Prime Minister…1943: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising crushed

…1945: The death of Adolf Hitler (April 30) was first reported on May 1/2 by the BBC followed by the German surrender a few days later. Almost 4 decades later; Hitler was still very much in the news. In 1983: “News” about the Hitler Diaries were splashed around the World – before soon after being exposed as a hoax. 1985: Despite various urgings – including by Elie Wiesel – not to go there; President Reagan visited Bitburg

The US-Israel Relationship
Besides the immediate recognition of Israel in 1948; other “Highlights” (or other) events included in 1975: The famed letter of 76 Senators against the Ford Kissinger “Reassessment” of US relations with Israel. In 1983: The Reagan Administration lifted it Year-long embargo on sale of F16s to Israel…. 2018: After 70 years in Tel-Aviv (and non-recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital); The Trump Administration moved the  US Embassy to Jerusalem

AIPAC and the US-Israel Relationship
In May 1978: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was involved in its first (losing) Arms Sale fight as President Carter linked an agreed sale of weapons to Israel; to sale of weapons to Egypt and Saudi Arabia…In 1989: Secretary of State James Baker’s gave his address to AIPAC calling on Israel to “Abandon dreams of Greater Israel”.. Internally to the organization: In 1996: AIPAC’s Executive Director, Neal Sher departed AIPAC after 2 years in the job to be succeeded by Howard Kohr (who remained in charge till stepping down at the end of 2024)….2004: AIPAC’s first Policy Conference was held at the Washington DC Convention Center (with among the speakers: President George W. Bush)

The United States under attack
1987: Iraqi attack on US Stark…In 2003: President Bush announces end of Major Combat operations in Iraq …In 2004 American Nick Berg was killed in Iraq by Islamic terrorist  Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi (who was subsequently killed in a US Air Strike in 2006)…In 2011: President Obama announced the Killing of Bin Laden



Obituaries
Finally a couple of obituaries and one almost obituary: In 1981: Attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II by the Turk, Mehmet Ali Agca.  In May 1935: Lawrence of Arabia (T.E. Lawrence) died…And in May 2018: the historian Bernard Lewis (my father) passed.

Feel free to contact me with any suggested month-of-May additions or corrections.