February 23, 1965 — ‘Sallah Shabbati’ is Nominated for Oscar
The Israeli movie industry has its first Oscar nominee when “Sallah Shabbati” receives an Academy Award nomination for best foreign language film. Although the movie does not win — the Oscar goes to Italy’s “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” — it does bring home a pair of Golden Globes, including one for star Topol. Part of a genre known as bourekas films, “Sallah” takes a playful look at Ashkenazi-Sephardi tensions.
February 24, 1942 — Soviet Sub Sinks Struma
A Soviet submarine sinks the refugee transport SS Struma in the Black Sea in the mistaken belief that it is an enemy ship. Only one of the 769 Jewish refugees survives. The Struma, a converted cattle transport meant to carry 100 passengers, originated in Romania and stopped at Istanbul, where the refugees were denied visas to Palestine or entry to Turkey. After 10 weeks in port, the decrepit ship was towed to sea Feb. 23.
February 25, 1994 — Goldstein Massacres Muslims in Hebron
Baruch Goldstein fatally shoots 30 Muslims worshipping at the Mosque of Abraham in Hebron’s Cave of Machpelah and wounds 125 others before being beaten to death. Goldstein, a member of the radical Kach party, lives in Kiryat Arba. His attack during Ramadan and Purim sparks two days of riots. Israeli President Ezer Weizman calls the massacre “the worst thing that has happened to us in the history of Zionism.”
February 26, 1973 — Kissinger, Egypt’s Ismail Secretly Meet
On the second day of secret meetings in Armonk, New York, Egyptian National Security Adviser Hafez Ismail tells his U.S. counterpart, Henry Kissinger, that Egypt is willing to negotiate directly with Israel through a U.S.-mediated, step-by-step process that trades territory for normalized relations — the type of incremental process that Kissinger leads to reach disengagement agreements after the Yom Kippur War in October.
February 27, 1928 — Ariel Sharon is Born
Ariel Sharon, Israel’s 11th prime minister, is born in K’far Malal, near Hod Hasharon. He serves in the military from the War of Independence through the Yom Kippur War and oversees the first war in Lebanon as defense minister in 1982. He becomes prime minister as the Likud leader in 2001, disengages from Gaza in 2005, forms Kadima for the 2006 election, then suffers a stroke from which he never recovers.
February 28, 1955 — Paratroopers Raid Gaza
Approximately 50 Israeli paratroopers conduct a raid against an Egyptian military camp in Gaza as a reprisal for repeated Arab attacks against Israeli civilians. Eight Israeli soldiers and 39 Egyptians are killed in the raid, called Operation Black Arrow, which is condemned by the United Nations. The raid highlights a split between the aggression of new Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion and the caution of Prime Minister Moshe Sharett.
February 29, 1948 — Lehi Bombs Cairo-Haifa Train
Lehi militants use mines to bomb train cars carrying British troops on the Cairo-Haifa rail line north of Rehovot, killing at least 27 soldiers. Targeting the troop cars in back spares the civilians in the front. Lehi says the attack, the deadliest train bombing targeting British troops in Palestine, is retaliation for the Ben Yehuda Street bombing in Jerusalem a week earlier, in which British deserters helped kill 58 Jewish civilians.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.