June 13, 1947 — Diplomat Elyakim Rubinstein Is Born
Elyakim Rubinstein’s 13 years on the Israeli Supreme Court included rulings banning forced sex segregation on public buses and overturning the Tal Law on Haredi military service. Judiciary of Israel.
Elyakim Rubinstein is born in Tel Aviv. He works as a legal adviser to the Defense and Foreign ministries in the mid-1970s, then joins the Israeli delegation to Egyptian peace talks from 1977 through 1979. He chairs the Israeli delegation to the 1991 Madrid peace conference and to the talks that produce the 1994 treaty with Jordan. He is a judge and the attorney general before serving on the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2017.
June 14, 1985 — TWA Flight 847 Is Hijacked
The U.S. Navy in 1994 named an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after Robert Dean Stethem, the sailor killed by the terrorists who hijacked TWA Flight 847 in 1985. U.S. Navy.
Two Lebanese terrorists hijack TWA Flight 847 with 139 passengers and eight crew members between Athens and Rome and force the 727 to fly to Beirut. The plane then flies to Algiers, back to Beirut, back to Algiers and again to Beirut over two days. The terrorists kill a U.S. Navy diver and separate possible Jews from the other hostages. They demand the release of 783 prisoners, mostly Lebanese Shiites held by Israel and its allies.
June 15, 1970 — Refuseniks Are Arrested Before Stealing Plane
Soviet refuseniks are pictured in 1970s Moscow. Remember and Save.
A plot to steal a commercial aircraft to escape the Soviet Union is foiled when 12 dissidents are arrested at Leningrad’s Smolnoye Airport just before boarding a 12-seat aircraft. Four others are arrested in Priozersk, where the plane is supposed to stop before flying to Sweden. All but two of the 16 are refuseniks, Jews denied the opportunity to emigrate. Their court cases propel the international movement to free Soviet Jewry.
June 16, 1947 — Violinist Bronislaw Huberman Dies
The cover of the album “Bronislaw Huberman in Performance” features the virtuoso, whose Stradivarius violin was stolen in February 1936 during a show at Carnegie Hall but was recovered.
Violinist Bronislaw Huberman, one of the greatest Jewish musicians ever, dies at his home in Switzerland at 64. A native of Czestochowa, Poland, he founded the Palestine Symphony Orchestra with his own money in the 1930s. He won the liberation of 90 Jewish musicians living in danger in Europe and brought them to Palestine to be part of the orchestra, which today is the Israel Philharmonic.
June 17, 1939 — St. Louis Returns to Europe
Passengers on the MS St. Louis wait in vain for admission to Cuba or the United States. One refugee on the ship committed suicide rather than return to Europe. National Archives and Records Administration.
The MS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria, completes its crossing of the Atlantic back to Europe after its passengers were denied admission to Cuba or the United States. The ship left Hamburg on May 13 with 938 passengers, all of whom had landing permits for Havana, but Cuba admitted only 28. Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and France accept the refugees, but 254 of them are killed in the Holocaust.
June 18, 1890 — JNF Land Buyer Avraham Granovsky Is Born
Avraham Granot’s five books included 1952’s “The Land System in Palestine History and Structure,” which explains how the Arab system of land ownership and tenure benefited the Zionist cause. JNF Archive.
Avraham Granovsky (Granot after making aliyah in 1922) is born in Moldova. He begins working for the Jewish National Fund in 1919 in The Hague and continues after settling in Jerusalem. He leads the purchase of thousands of dunams (quarter-acres) of land, helping define the future borders of the state. He becomes JNF director-general in 1940 and invests in new settlements, including in the Negev, and plants millions of trees.
June 19, 1967 — LBJ Outlines 5 Principles for Peace
A New York Times report in the June 20, 1967, issue covers President Lyndon B. Johnson’s speech the previous day on peace in the Middle East.
Nine days after the end of the Six-Day War, President Lyndon B. Johnson lays out five principles for Middle East peace during a foreign policy address at the State Department: the right of all nations to live in peace; justice for the refugees; the preservation of maritime rights; the end of the regional arms race; and the need for recognizable borders. He does not demand that Israel withdraw from recently captured territory.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
