Nov. 17, 2008 — Car Bomb Kills Gangster Alperon
Yaakov Alperon, an organized-crime leader and suspected killer who has survived multiple assassination attempts, dies at 53 when his car is blown up in Tel Aviv. Known in the Israeli media as “Don Alperon,” he has led a largely Mizrahi crime family after growing up poor as one of 12 children in an Egyptian immigrant family in Givat Shmuel. Both his brothers and his sons are believed to be part of his organization.
Nov. 18, 1951 — Rock Star Yoni Rechter Is Born
Yoni Rechter, considered one of Israel’s greatest musicians, is born in Tel Aviv. He joins the Artillery Corps band in the military, then becomes the keyboardist for Kaveret, which represents Israel in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. He forms a progressive rock duo, 14 Octaves, with Avner Kenner, and they have success writing songs for other performers. Rechter’s career takes off when he releases his first solo album, “Intending,” in 1979.
Nov. 19, 1977 — Sadat Visits Jerusalem
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat arrives to a 21-gun salute at Ben Gurion Airport and is driven to Jerusalem for a historic 36-hour visit. Sadat made a speech Nov. 9 in which he offered to speak about peace to the Knesset, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin replied with an invitation Nov. 15. The visit launches the process that produces the Camp David Accords in September 1978 and a peace treaty in March 1979.
Nov. 20, 1944 — Paratrooper Haviva Reik Is Killed
Haviva Reik is shown before her mission to Slovakia in 1944. Holocaust Encyclopedia.
Haviva Reik and two other paratroopers from Mandatory Palestine are among 40 Jewish fighters executed by the Nazis in Slovakia. Reik, a native of Slovakia who joined the Palmach after making aliyah in 1939, was left behind when the British dropped three other Jews behind enemy lines during an uprising, so she flew in with U.S. pilots and joined her comrades Sept. 21 for rescue and relief activities. They were caught by the end of October.
Nov. 21, 1984 — Operation Moses Begins
Ethiopian Jews arrive in Israel during Operation Moses. Israeli Ministry of Foreign
Working with the CIA and Sudanese State Security, the Mossad launches Operation Moses to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Almost 8,000 are flown from refugee camps in Sudan via Brussels to Israel in less than seven weeks. The operation ends Jan. 5, 1985, after it is publicized. A CIA mission, Operation Joshua, brings up to 800 people to Israel in 1985. An additional 14,000 Ethiopians reach Israel in Operation Solomon in 1991.
Nov. 22, 1967 — The Meaning of ‘The’
The U.N. Security Council adopts Resolution 242, enshrining the principle of Israel’s trading land captured in the Six-Day War for peace with its Arab neighbors. Drafted in English, the resolution calls for withdrawal from “territories occupied in the recent conflict,” omitting “the” and thus leaving up for negotiation exactly which lands Israel should give up. Arabs prefer the French translation, which uses the definitive article “des.”
Nov. 23, 1584 — Sultan, Safed and Synagogues
In the midst of strengthening the Muslim nature of his empire through such measures as requiring Jews and Christians to wear tall hats, Ottoman Sultan Murad III orders an investigation into the increase from three to 32 synagogues in Safed, where only seven mosques operate. The Jews, Murad writes, “have given much annoyance to the Muslims.” Within a few years, a third of the city’s synagogues close.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.