Jan. 24, 1965 — Syria Arrests Spy Eli Cohen
Syrian police arrest businessman Kamel Amin Tha’abet at his Damascus home and charge him with espionage. Tha’abet is Mossad agent Eli Cohen, who speaks Arabic with an authentic Syrian accent after being raised by Syrian Jewish parents in Egypt. Cohen provides intelligence about the Golan Heights that proves crucial in the 1967 war. He never sees that success, however: He is publicly hanged May 18, 1965.
Jan. 25, 1904 — Herzl Meets With Pope
Theodor Herzl takes time during a two-week trip to Italy to meet with Pope Pius X to try to win his support for Zionism. Despite getting a warm reception from King Victor Emanuel III two days earlier, Herzl fails to sway the pope. “We cannot give approval to this movement,” Pius says. “We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem, but we could never sanction it.” The pope says he cannot recognize the Jews because they have not recognized Jesus.
Jan. 26, 1919 — Weizmann Warns of Catastrophe
Chaim Weizmann writes to anti-Zionist Gen. Arthur Money, who heads the British military administration in Palestine, to make the Zionist case after a meeting a week earlier. The letter warns that “unless they secure a place which they may call their home in a real sense of the word, they will be faced with a terrible catastrophe” that “would shatter not only the whole fabric of Jewish existence, but would endanger the peace and society as a whole.”
Jan. 27, 2006 — U.N. Holds First Holocaust Remembrance Day
The first U.N.-recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day is held on the 61st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The president of the U.N. General Assembly, Jan Eliasson, says the commemoration should be “a unifying historic warning around which we must rally, not only to recall the grievous crimes committed in human history, but also to reaffirm our unfaltering resolve to prevent the recurrence of such crimes.”
Jan. 28, 1996 — Dumping of Donated Ethiopian Blood Sparks Riots
About 10,000 Ethiopian Jews demonstrate outside Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ office to protest the government’s decision to accept blood donations from thousands of Ethiopian Israelis, only to throw away the blood for fear of spreading the AIDS virus. The disposal builds on feelings of humiliation and discrimination. When police deploy water cannons and tear gas, the protest turns into a riot, injuring several officers and damaging many cars.
Jan. 29, 2004 — Israel Swaps Prisoners for Man, 3 Bodies
Israel frees more than 430 Arab prisoners to win the release of an Israeli businessman abducted in Dubai in October 2000 and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers captured the same month along the Lebanese border by Hezbollah and killed in captivity. The Palestinian Authority and Hezbollah celebrate the exchange. Israelis are divided, in part because the swap happens the same day as a bus bombing in Jerusalem.
Jan. 30, 1958 — U.S. Commits to Baghdad Pact
During a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles says the United States is committed to the defense of the Baghdad Pact nations: the Muslim-majority states of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey, plus the United Kingdom. Dulles’ statement is seen as an extension of the Eisenhower Doctrine, under which any Middle Eastern country threatened by a Communist regime can seek U.S. economic aid.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
