March 7, 1965 — Egypt Discusses Captured Spy
A memorial to Operation Black Arrow sits between Kibbutz Mefalsim and the Gaza Strip. By Daniel Ventura, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Egyptian authorities release details about the arrest (Feb. 22) of Israeli spy Wolfgang Lotz and his wife, Waldrud. Lotz is implicated in the sending of letter bombs to foreign scientists working in Egypt. Although Lotz made aliyah in the 1930s and began working for Israeli military intelligence in the 1950s, Egypt believes he is a German businessman recruited in Berlin to spy for money shortly before visiting Egypt in 1960.
March 8, 1949 — Ben-Gurion Forms 1st Elected Government
Joseph Trumpeldor died leading the defense of Tel Hai.
David Ben-Gurion’s Knesset-leading Mapai party, with 46 seats, joins the United Religious Front, the Progressive Party, the Sephardi and Mizrahi Communities, and the Arab-led Democratic List of Nazareth to form a government after Israel’s first parliamentary election (Jan. 25). Mapai keeps its pro-Soviet left-wing rival, Mapam (19 seats), and its primary right-wing rival, Herut (14 seats), in the opposition.
March 9, 1932 — Naharayim Power Plant Opens
Justice Miriam Ben-Porat lights one of the 12 beacons at Israel’s 40th anniversary celebration on Mount Herzl in 1988, the same year she completed her term on the Supreme Court. By Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Pinhas Rutenberg and the Palestine Electric Co. open a hydroelectric plant at Naharayim. It supplies much of the electricity in Mandatory Palestine until its destruction by Iraqi troops during the War of Independence. Naharayim, meaning “two rivers,” sits at the junction of the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers. Rutenberg chooses the site because of the rivers’ strong flow and the ability to regulate the Sea of Galilee’s water level.
March 10, 1970 — Knesset Amends Law of Return’s Jewish Definition
New Operation Ezra and Nehemia arrivals from Iraq leave the Lod airport for an absorption camp in April 1951. National Photo Collection of Israel.
Israel’s Law of Return, first passed in 1950, is amended by the Knesset to change the definition of “who is a Jew.” The changes come in response to two high-profile cases involving a Jewish convert to Catholicism and an interfaith marriage. The revised law reads, “Jew means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or who has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion.”
March 11, 1978 — 38 Are Killed in Coastal Road Massacre
Jonathan Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage charges in return for a lighter sentence for his wife. U.S. Navy
Eleven Palestinians traveling by boat from Lebanon land on a beachhead north of Tel Aviv and carry out one of the worst terrorist attacks in Israel’s history, the Coastal Road Massacre. They hijack a taxi and later two buses and kill 38 civilians, including 17 children, before Israeli police stop them in a shootout. The attack is meant to derail Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin does delay his departure for talks in the United States.
March 12, 2004 — Poet Natan Yonatan Dies
William Blackstone believed that restoring the Jewish people to the Land of Israel would help usher in the return of Jesus.
Natan Yonatan, one of Israel’s greatest poets, dies at age 80. A native of Kyiv who grew up in Palestine, Yonatan almost immediately gained recognition after he started writing poetry in 1940. His poems featured strong lyrical qualities and folk imagery, and he was well known for his exploration of the human cost of war. He won the Bialik Prize and served as the president of the Hebrew Writers’ Union.
March 13, 1948 — Davidka Mortar Is First Used
Clark Clifford argued that the partition of Palestine was crucial to strengthen the U.S. position in the Middle East against the Soviet Union.
The Davidka, a mortar designed and manufactured at the Mikveh Israel agricultural school as a Palmach weapon for Israel’s fight for independence, is used in combat for the first time in an attack on Jaffa’s Abu Kabir neighborhood. The Davidka is known for being wildly inaccurate because of its oversize bomb and unstable aerodynamics. But it creates large, loud explosions that scare enemy soldiers and civilians.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.