September 12, 2009 — Israeli Film Wins Golden Lion
“Lebanon” is the first Israeli film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.
An Israeli film wins the Golden Lion (introduced in 1949) at the Venice International Film Festival for the first time. “Lebanon,” written and directed by Samuel Maoz, follows a tank brigade operating during the First Lebanon War. It does not win Israel’s equivalent of the Oscar for best picture and thus is not the nation’s Academy Award nominee for best foreign language film. That honor goes to “Ajami.”
September 13, 1984 — Peres Becomes Premier
Prime Minister Shimon Peres looks over notes in the Knesset beside Vice Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir in 1985. Under their coalition agreement, Shamir replaces Peres as prime minister in 1986. By Chanania Herman, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Shimon Peres becomes Israel’s eighth prime minister, leading a national unity government combining his Alignment (the once and future Labor Party) with Likud and six other parties. The coalition comes together two months after elections in which 44 Knesset seats go to the Alignment and 41 to Likud. Under the coalition agreement, Peres serves as prime minister for two years, then yields the position to Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir.
September 14, 1948 — Palmach Is Integrated Into IDF
Palmach leaders including Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Allon join David Ben-Gurion on a tour of the Negev during the War of Independence. National Photo Collection of Israel.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announces after a meeting with dozens of Palmach leaders that the elite strike force is being dismantled as an independent unit and integrated into the Israel Defense Forces. The move is part of a policy of depoliticizing the military that also applies to the Irgun and Lehi. Yitzhak Rabin, a Palmach commander, writes in his memoirs about his ambivalence over the move.
September 15, 1891 — Writer Ben-Gavriel Is Born
Moshe Yaacov Ben-Gavriel learned Hebrew and some Arabic while serving with the Austro-Hungarian army in Ottoman Palestine in 1917. National Library of Israel.
Journalist-novelist Moshe Yaacov Ben-Gavriel is born Eugen Hoeflich in Vienna, Austria. He becomes an ardent Zionist while serving in the Austro-Hungarian army in Jerusalem in 1917. He works as a correspondent for European and U.S. newspapers after making aliyah in 1927. He writes novels and short stories after serving with the British army in World War II and wins particular acclaim in West Germany.
September 16, 1977 — Dayan Meets With Egyptian Official
Hassan Tuhami and Moshe Dayan meet at Camp David in September 1978.
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan holds secret talks in Morocco with Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Tuhami to assess each side’s willingness to negotiate peace. Morocco’s King Hassan brokers the talks at Dayan’s request. Dayan meets with U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance soon after but does not mention the talks, which help set the stage for Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel in November 1977.
September 17, 1948 — Lehi Assassinates U.N. Envoy
Count Folke Bernadotte meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett at HaKirya in Tel Aviv on Sept. 9, 1948, eight days before Bernadotte’s assassination. National Photo Collection of Israel.
Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat sent by the United Nations in May to mediate between Israel and the Arabs during the War of Independence, is assassinated by members of Lehi (the Stern Gang). Bernadotte had arranged a monthlong cease-fire that went into effect in June and is working on a peace plan that includes an international status for Jerusalem when he is killed. No one ever is charged.
September 18, 1918 — Swimmer Judith Deutsch Is Born
Judith Deutsch (left) and teammates Hedy Bienenfeld, Fritzi Loewy and Lucie Goldner pose with Zsigo Wertheimer, their coach at the Jewish swim club Hakoah Vienna, in the mid-1930s. Most Austrian clubs didn’t admit Jewish swimmers.
Champion swimmer Judith Deutsch is born in Vienna, Austria. She overcomes antisemitism to set every Austrian freestyle record at middle and long distances between 1933 and 1935. She joins fellow Austrian swimmers Ruth Langer and Lucie Goldner in refusing to go to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. She makes aliyah after she is suspended from competing in Austria, which expunges her records but apologizes in 1995.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.