April 11, 2002 — Powell Visits to Negotiate Cease-Fire
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Jerusalem on April 14, 2002, during Powell’s Mideast shuttle diplomacy. By Amos Ben Gershom, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Before leaving a Madrid summit for the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell calls for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians and emphasizes that only a negotiated settlement will bring enduring peace. Powell flies to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II before sessions with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on April 12 and with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on April 13.
April 12, 1971 — Singing Soccer Star Eyal Golan Is Born
Eyal Golan, a soccer player who becomes one of Israel’s most successful Mizrahi singers, is born in Rehovot. He plays professional soccer from age 18 to 35, most of it for Hapoel Marmorek, which he buys in 2014. While still playing, he releases his first album, “Whisper in the Night,” in 1995. All of his next 21 studio albums and eight concert albums are platinum sellers. He also stars as a coach on a TV music competition series.
April 13, 2004 — Hapoel Jerusalem Wins Basketball EuroCup
Hapoel Jerusalem defeats Real Madrid, 83-72, to win Europe’s No. 2 club basketball championship, the EuroCup. Hapoel, which doesn’t win its first Israeli championship until 2015, finishes second in the group stage of the 36-team competition, then beats teams from Poland, Lithuania and Serbia to reach the final. Maccabi Tel Aviv, meanwhile, wins the top-tier EuroLeague, giving Israel both of Europe’s major basketball titles.
April 14, 1871 — German Unification Leads to Emancipation
Germany is established as an empire under Prussia’s Wilhelm I, making possible the expansion of the civil and political rights granted to Jews in 22 German states in 1869. Those rights cover all German Jews on April 22 when the German Constitution, adopted April 16, is extended to Bavaria. Despite emancipation, Jews are still barred from some high-profile positions, so conversion to Christianity continues.
April 15, 1945 — Bergen-Belsen Is Liberated
The last barracks building at Bergen-Belsen is razed at the end of June 1945.
The British 11th Armored Division liberates the Nazis’ Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where an estimated 50,000 Jews and others, including Anne Frank, are killed in the final two years of World War II. About half the 120,000 people sent to the camp are alive, scattered among 13,000 unburied corpses, but they are suffering from malnutrition, typhus and other diseases. Almost 14,000 of them die in the 2½ months after liberation.
April 16, 2007 — Jewish Writers Gather From Around World
Organized by author Aharon Appelfeld and politician Natan Sharansky, the first Kisufim conference for Jewish writers around the world opens in Jerusalem. The name Kisufim comes from the Hebrew acronym for Jewish Conference of Jewish Writers and Poets. The largest-ever gathering of Jewish writers in part celebrates the 40th anniversary of S.Y. Agnon receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sessions are held in 10 languages.
April 17, 1954 — Nasser Is Named Egypt’s Premier
Gamal Abdel Nasser, who leads wars against Israel in 1956 and 1967, is appointed the prime minister of Egypt at age 36. Nasser was a leader of the military uprising that established the Egyptian republic in 1952, resulting in the abolition of the monarchy in 1953. Another revolutionary leader, Muhammad Naguib, resigned as the republic’s first president in February 1954. Nasser becomes president under a new constitution in 1956.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.