January 9, 1952 — Israel Accepts German Reparations
Menachem Begin speaks at a rally against accepting German reparations in 1952. Israel State Archives.
The Knesset ends three days of debate by voting 61-50 to accept more than $800 million in Holocaust reparations over 14 years from the West German government. The decision, opposed by Menachem Begin and his Herut party as the acceptance of blood money, sparks rioting. But after Israel and West Germany formalize the arrangements in an agreement eight months later, the payments prove vital to the new state’s economy.
January 10, 1996 — King Hussein Arrives in Israel
Jordan’s King Hussein visits a Jordanian soldier being treated at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital on Jan. 10, 1996. By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Jordan’s King Hussein makes his much-anticipated first public visit to Israel nearly 15 months after signing a peace treaty. The king co-pilots an army helicopter to Sde Dov, then he and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres drive to Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital to see two Jordanian soldiers receiving treatment. The king, who secretly visited in 1977, also stops at the Defense Ministry and at Beit Gavriel on the Sea of Galilee.
January 11, 1961 — Immigrant Ship Egoz Sinks Near Morocco
A monument to the victims of the Egoz sinking stands on Mount Herzl. By Niv Baruch, PikiWiki, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Egoz, a ship leased by the Mossad to secretly transport Moroccan Jews to Israel, sinks around 3 a.m., a few hours after leaving the port of Al Hoceima on its 12th immigration trip. Forty-four would-be Israelis, half of them children, drown. The tragedy leads Morocco to ease its ban on Jewish emigration in exchange for a payment for each person who leaves, and some 80,000 Jews depart Morocco from 1961 to 1964.
January 12, 1981 — Bedouin Knesset Member Is Assassinated
Knesset members Hamad Abu-Rabia and Moshe Dayan sit side by side during the Knesset debate over an interim disengagement agreement with Egypt in September 1975. By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Hamad Abu-Rabia, the first Bedouin to serve in the Knesset, is fatally shot at age 51 in his car outside the Holy Land Hotel in Jerusalem, where he stays while the parliament is meeting. It is the first assassination of a Knesset member. The culprits are the sons of a Druze political rival, Jabr Muadi, who is blocked from returning to the Knesset when Abu-Rabia refuses to surrender the only seat won by the United Arab List in 1979.
January 13, 1898 — Zola Accuses French of Antisemitism
Emile Zola was convicted of libel in February 1898 over the “J’Accuse” letter he published in a French newspaper Jan. 13, 1898, and he lived in England for more than a year to avoid prison.
The newspaper L’Aurore publishes a 4,500-word letter from Emile Zola under the front-page headline “J’Accuse” (“I Accuse”), in which the acclaimed writer charges French President Felix Faure and his government with antisemitism in the Dreyfus Affair. Zola points out the many flaws in the treason conviction of army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus in 1894 and mocks the sham-trial acquittal of the true spy, Maj. Ferdinand Esterhazy.
January 14, 1925 — Rabbi Carlebach Is Born
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach helped transform modern Jewish liturgical music. By 0503508090t, own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, an influential composer posthumously accused of abuse, is born in Berlin. He spends his early years in Baden, Austria, where his father is the chief rabbi. The family escapes to Lithuania in 1938, then moves to Brooklyn after Germany invades Poland in 1939. He founds the House of Love and Prayer in San Francisco in the 1960s and starts a moshav near Tel Aviv, Me’or Modi’in, when he moves to Israel in 1977.
January 15, 2014 — Israel Joins CERN as Full Member
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman represents Israel at the flag-raising ceremony at CERN on Jan. 15, 2014. By Laurent Egil, CERN.
A flag-raising ceremony at the Geneva headquarters of the European Organization for Nuclear Research marks Israel’s new status as the 21st full member of the physics organization known as CERN. Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Liberman is given a tour of the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest particle accelerator. Israeli scientists first worked with CERN in 1991, and Israel became an associate member in 2011.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.