Some Past July ‘Highlights’ and Low Points in Israeli and Jewish History

 Introduction

As this series of monthly compilation of “Past Highlights” nears completion of the year’s cycle; a reminder that this is just a partial, selective compilation. I’ve always assume that most readers have a certain-familiarity with these past events; and only require reminding of their having occurred.  As always, I’m deeply-appreciative of suggestions for what could or should have been included in the month’s highlights.

It is apparently hard for some to fathom; but Jewish history and Jewish ties to the Holy Land go way back. Flashback a thousand years: 1099: The “Siege of Jerusalem” ends and the Crusaders slaughter Jewish and Muslim inhabitants of Jerusalem.  And in 1290: All Jews are expelled from England (for almost 400 years until Oliver Cromwell promoted their return)

Palestine Between the World Wars 

1922: Britain is officially awarded the “Palestine Mandate” with adherence to the “Balfour Declaration”….1937: The Peel Commission publishes its report and recommends “Partition.”

Israel’s Post-World War II Fight For Statehood   

1946: Menachem Begin’s Irgun Bombing of the King David Hotel
. …In 1947  in retaliation for the execution of three of their members, LHI kidnapped and hanged two British Army sergeant (Both actions eliciting massive uproar in Englandm even from strong friends of Zionism, such as Winston Churchill.)….1947: The ship with Jewish refugees, “The Exodus 1947” sets sail from France for Palestine, with 4,500 Jewish refugees before being boarded by the British. (An event which became infamous at the time and of course a decade later, Leon Uris in his book Exodus” and Otto Preminger and Paul Newman in the (wonderful!) film with the same title, made immortal.

1948: David “Mickey Marcus, who was tragically killed on the eve of Israeli statehood, is  buried at West Point.  (In the mid-1960s, Hollywood made the film re Marcus “Cast A Giant Shadow.”)

TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL AND ISRAEL RESPONSES

Terrorist attacks against Israel have been a constant since Israel’s founding. 1968: The first – and  G-d willing, the only – successful hijacking of an  El-Al plane took place. El Al Flight from Rome to Tel-Aviv was hijacked by members of the PFLP and taken to Algeria….1973: Israel’s Defense Attache in Washington, Yosef Alon shot and killed outside his Bethesda home (The murder was never  solved) …1975: Zion Square Refrigerator Bombing in Jerusalem Kills 15 Israelis
…. 1994: The especially-heinous bombing of the Jewish Amia Bombing in Buenos Aries, Argentina with Iranian complicity….1994: Israel embassy bombing in London….1997: Jerusalem: Mahane Yehuda Market bombings killed 16 Israelis…2002: Bombing Hebrew University “Frank Sinatra” cafeteria… 2002: Terror Attack against Immanuel Bus Stop Killed 9 Israelis….2005: Hasharon Mall Suicide Bombing Kills 5 in Netanya… In 1976: The Air France hijacking to Entebbe, Uganda which saw Israeli and non-Israeli Jews separated from the other passengers. ended with the famed Entebbe Rescue (The Israeli-made film “Operation Thunderbolt” being the best of the several films made about the Entebbe rescue.)

Making War and Attempting Peace

1973: The Mossad’s tragic error in Lillehammer as they were tracking down those involved in the 1972 “Munich Massacre.”…1981: Israel Bombs PLO HQ Beirut….2014: Operation Protective Edge

1994: PLO’s Yasser Arafat ends 27-year exile – and Returns to Gaza ….2000: The  two-week long (failed) summit at Camp David between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO’s Yasser Arafat with President Clinton.

The Holocaust

1938: The Evian Conference…
1941:  SS General Reinhard Heydrich (who was subsequently assassinated in May 1942 by Czech partisans ) was assigned by Goering to make preparations for the implementation of a “complete solution of the Jewish question.”  (In January 1942, Heydrich “hosted” the Wannsee Conference)…1942: Anne Frank and her family go into hiding…..1942: Vel’d’Hiv Roundup – The mass-round up of Jews in France (by French police) who were then sent to concentration Camps….1944: The  Failed effort to Kill Hitler….
1986: Former UN Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim inaugurated as president of Austria despite his Nazi past (Waldheim was banned from entering the United States.) ….1993:  Israeli court frees alleged Concentration Camp guard, John Demjanjuk

Additional Events

In 1950: Israel Passes the “Law of Return”…..30 Years later in 1980, the Knesset passes: “Basic Law: Jerusalem Capital of Israel” (A dozen countries respond by moving their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv)…2004: International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the Israel’s Construction of a Barrier/Wall in Palestinian Territories…2005:   ”7/7” – Series of Bomb attacks across London killing over 30 people….

The Broader Middle East and the World (and beyond!)

1799: The Rosetta Stone was found in Egypt by a French soldier with Napoleon’s invading army...
1917: ”Lawrence of Arabia” leads Arab Forces to Captured port of Aqaba from Turks….1950: The assassination in (East) Jerusalem of Jordanian King Abdullah (witnessed by his Grandson, the future King Hussein…..1958: Baghdad Coup. In aftermath President Eisenhower Sends 5,000 US Marines to Lebanon….1962: Algeria gains Independence from France…1988: The USS Vincennes accidentally shoots down an Iranian airliner killing almost 300 people aboard….1945: The Potsdam Conference (Truman, Churchill and Stalin meeting at Potsdam,
 
with Churchill learning in the midst of the Conference that he’d lost the British General election and was thus no longer Prime Minister….1969: The Apollo 11 Moon Landing/Neil Armstrong on the Moon…And of course, 1776: US Independence!

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