Feb. 21, 1852 — Pope Protests Jewish Emancipation
Pope Pius IX writes to Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany to protest the decision to grant some degree of emancipation to the Jews of the grand duchy. “The spirit of the church, expressed in many dispositions and decrees, … has always been to keep Catholics as much as possible from having any contact with the infidels,” the pope writes. The pope builds on a long tradition of church-supported antisemitism.
Feb. 22, 1948 — Truck Bombs Explode on Ben Yehuda Street
Arabs disguised as British troops and two British deserters detonate several truck bombs along Ben Yehuda Street’s shopping district in downtown Jerusalem, killing as many as 58 Jewish civilians and wounding 140 to 200 others. Although one of the leaders of the 1936 Arab Revolt takes credit for the terrorist attack, Jewish militants blame the British. The Irgun issues an order to shoot British soldiers on sight, and eight are killed that day.
Feb. 23, 1966 — Officers Seize Power in Syria
Young army officers take power in Syria in a coup against the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, which itself gained control in a coup in 1963. Ba’athist leaders had tried to undermine the officers through strategic transfers two days earlier. Although he is out of the country, Hafez al-Assad is named the defense minister, putting him in a position to lead the military in the June 1967 war against Israel and to launch his own coup in 1970.
Feb. 24, 1874 — Agricultural Zionist Moshe Smilansky Is Born
Moshe Smilansky, an early Zionist leader whose influence ranges from the military to literature, is born in Ukraine. He settles in Rehovot in 1893. He helps found the moshav movement and serves as a leader of the Farmers’ Federation. He joins the Jewish Legion during World War I and becomes a local Haganah commander. A delegate to the Seventh Zionist Congress, he advocates peaceful coexistence with the Arabs and opposes violence against the British.
Feb. 25, 1928 — Tel Aviv Holds First Soccer Derby
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv hold the first match in the city’s oldest soccer rivalry, a 3-0 home victory for Maccabi. Maccabi wins the rematch on Hapoel’s home field a week later, 2-1. Maccabi Tel Aviv, founded in 1906, is the first soccer powerhouse in British Mandatory Palestine. Hapoel Tel Aviv rises as a top team in the 1930s. Both teams have remained mainstays in the top tier of Israeli soccer.
Feb. 26, 1901 — Labor’s Aharon Zisling Is Born
Aharon Zisling, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a leader in Jewish labor politics from the 1920s through 1955, is born in Minsk. After making aliyah in 1914, he’s part of the convention that founds the Histadrut labor union, is an early member of David Ben-Gurion’s Ahdut Ha’Avoda party and serves in the leadership of the HeHalutz Zionist youth movement. He becomes Israel’s first agriculture minister in 1948.
Feb. 27, 1974 — Kissinger Delivers List of Syria’s Israeli POWs
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrives in Israel from Damascus with a list of 65 Israeli military prisoners held by Syria since the Yom Kippur War and with a promise from Hafez al-Assad that the Red Cross will be allowed to visit the POWs. The list is one of Israel’s conditions for disengagement negotiations with Syria, and Kissinger crafts an agreement for both states to pull back troops in the Golan Heights.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.