March 22, 1988 — Gay Ban Is Abolished
Pride is on display during the annual Tel Aviv Pride Parade in June 2019, more than 31 years after the legalization of homosexuality in Israel.
The Knesset repeals a British Mandate-era law banning sex between people of the same gender and thereby legalizes homosexuality in Israel. The repeal is the culmination of a 10-year struggle against the opposition of the religious parties, all of which skip the vote. Israel never prosecuted anyone under the homosexuality ban, but its maximum penalty of 10 years in prison created fear in the state.
March 23, 2016 — Writer Aharon Megged Dies
Aharon Megged, who won almost every literary prize in Israel, including the S.Y. Agnon Prize, Prime Minister’s Prize, President’s Prize and Israel Prize, dies in Tel Aviv at age 95. He wrote 35 books, as well as plays, skits and articles, and nurtured such writers as A.B. Yehoshua. His work featured society’s outsiders and often reflected on what he saw as the moral degeneration of Israel after independence.
March 24, 1993 — Weizman Is Elected President
Ezer Weizman, a nephew of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, is elected the nation’s seventh president on a 66-53 vote in the Knesset. A native of Tel Aviv, Weizman is one of the founders of the Israel Air Force, which he commanded in 1958, and a former deputy chief of staff of the IDF. As defense minister, he was a delegate to the Camp David peace process. He serves as president until July 2000.
March 25, 2019 — Israel-Gaza Violence Flares
An image from an IDF video shows a strike on a Hamas building in Gaza City on March 25, 2019.
A rocket destroys a house in Mishmeret, north of Tel Aviv, and injures seven people. In response, the IDF bombs suspected Gaza military locations and injures seven Palestinians. Thirty rockets then are fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Egypt brokers a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to prevent an all-out war within two weeks of what proves to be an inconclusive Knesset election.
March 26, 2017 — Pence Sets U.S.-Israel Goals
Vice President Mike Pence addresses the AIPAC Policy Conference on March 26, 2017.
Two months into the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence lays out the administration’s Israel-related goals during a speech at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference. They include a reduction in U.N. bias against Israel, the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, and new restraints on Iran’s regional ambitions and nuclear aspirations.
March 27, 1839 — Iranian Jews Are Forcibly Converted
A plaque outside Jerusalem’s Haji Adoniyah Synagogue, created by Jadid al-Islam (“new to Islam”) from Mashhad in 1902, reads, “The synagogue of Haji Adoniayahu, son of Aharon HaCohen of the Crypto-Jews of Mashhad, dedicated by the Aharon Cohen family in 1902.”
A Shiite mob attacks the Jewish district of Mashhad, Iran, after alleged misconduct by a Jewish woman. The rioters kill 30 to 40 Jews, burn the synagogue, loot homes and abduct children. The entire Jewish community of nearly 2,400 is forced to convert to Islam in an event known as the Allahdad. Some Jews flee to Herat, Afghanistan, or elsewhere to avoid conversion. Attacks in 1891 and 1902 lead to further Jewish emigration from Mashhad.
March 28, 2002 — Saudi Prince Unveils Peace Plan
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presented a Palestinian-Israeli peace initiative at the 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut.
Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia presents what becomes known as the Arab Peace Initiative during an Arab League summit in Beirut. The plan includes an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines, the application of U.N. Resolution 194 to the Palestinian refugee problem, the establishment of a Palestinian state on all of the West Bank and Gaza, and peace with normal relations between all Arab countries and Israel.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.