1950 in Israel


Events in the year 1950 in Israel.

Incumbents

Events

January

  • Food and fuel shortages and the Tzena leads to a growing black market.
  • 23 January – The Knesset passes a resolution confirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital, proclaiming that "Jerusalem is, and has always been, the capital of Israel".

February

  • 5–6 February - Snow falls for two days throughout the country, in a rare meteorological phenomenon for the coastal plain and the Negev desert.
  • 11 February – Britain releases Israeli assets worth £15 million that have been frozen since the end of the Mandate in 1948. 
  • 17 February – King Abdullah I of Jordan and Mossad Director Reuven Shiloah of Israel met at the king's winter palace at El Shuneh, where the king presented a seven-point treaty proposal.
  • 22 February – Egypt and Israel signed a General Armistice Agreement at Auja al-Hafir, a town on the border between the two nations; the Agreement defines the boundaries of the Gaza Strip as a neutral zone between the two countries.
  • 24 February – Representatives of Israel and Jordan initial a five-year peace treaty that provided for joint control of Jerusalem and commerce between the two nations, but the pact is not approved by either side.
  • 24–25 February – The Egyptian army takes over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba.
  • 28 February – An airport is opened at Eilat.

March

Mapai fails to persuade Mapam to join the coalition.
  • The United Religious Front threatens to leave the coalition if religious teachers and youth counselors are not provided in the immigrant camps.
  • 6 March – Iran extends diplomatic recognition to Israel.
  • 11 March – The radio station Kol Zion Lagolah begins broadcasting in English, French and Yiddish.
  • 13 March – The Knesset resumes holding its sessions in Jerusalem, in Frumin House on King George Street until a permanent location is built for it.
  • 14 March – The Knesset passes the "Absentees' Property Law" providing for the confiscation of property owned by any of the 725,000 Arab-Palestinian residents who had fled from Israel.
  • 17 March – An Israeli shepherd is killed and his flock stolen by Palestinian fedayeen.
  • 26 March – The remains of the Hannah Szenes, a Jewish paratrooper who had fought in the British Army during World War II and was captured, tortured and executed in Hungary, are brought to Israel and buried in the cemetery on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.
  • 28 March – Bodies of three children from 'Abasan, killed by members of Battalion 22 on 16 March, are found in Israel.
  • 31 March – Three Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians killed in a Negev ambush.

April

May

June

July

  • 5 July – The Knesset passes the Law of Return, which gives Jews, those of Jewish ancestry, and their spouses the right to migrate to and settle in Israel and obtain citizenship.
  • 31 July – The austerity program is broadened to include rationing of clothing and shoes.

August

  • 1 August – The Knesset passes the "Law for Administering of Justice to the Nazis and their Collaborators" and provides for capital punishment as the maximum sentence for perpetrators of the Holocaust.
  • 1 August–14 August – In protest against the rationing policy of the Austerity program, shopkeepers begin a two-week strike.
  • 7 August – The retailers strike becomes a general strike protesting the Austerity program.
  • 8 August – A no-confidence motion initiated by the opposition on the government's implementation of the rationing and austerity policy is defeated in the Knesset by a vote of 57 to 36.
  • 23 August – An Israeli woman is killed and her boyfriend wounded by fedayeen gunfire in a Yarkona orange grove.

September

  • 3 September – An international conference of Jewish business leaders, called "the Billion's Conference", is held in Jerusalem to help Israel by raising capital.
  • 6 September – The first State of Israel bond issue is initiated in the United States to assist Israel to raise capital to develop its economic infrastructure and absorb the masses of new immigrants.
  • 24 September – Galei Zahal, the Israel Army Radio station, begins broadcasting
  • 24 September – The airlift of some 50,000 Jews from Yemen and Aden to Israel, called Operation Magic Carpet, is completed.
  • 27 September – The 3rd Maccabiah Games open for the first time after the independence of the State of Israel and fifteen years after the previous games, and close on 8 October.
  • 30 September – The government announces a new economic growth program that includes measures to facilitate imports, promote exports, reduce inflation and promote the issuing of domestic loans.

October

November

  • 1 November – David Ben-Gurion forms a new government and presents his cabinet for a Knesset; the Second government of Israel is approved that day by a vote of 69 to 42, with 2 abstentions, and sworn in.
  • 6 November – An appeal to the Israeli people to house new immigrant children for the winter months, called the Shelter campaign, is launched.
  • 14 November – The first Municipal elections in Israel result in large decrease for Ben-Gurion's Mapai party and a gain for the General Zionists, a center-right Zionist party, who obtain a quarter of the votes, only slightly less than Mapai.
  • 29 November – Jordanian armed forces block the road to Eilat at kilometer 78, claiming that it passes through their territory.
  • 29 November – The issue of education in the ma'abarot develops into a new dispute between Mapai and the religious parties.

December

  • 2 December – Israeli forces clear the Jordanians from the kilometer 78-point and reopen the road to Eilat; in the following weeks, the Jordanians will reject talks at the Armistice committee until the passage to Eilat is settled to their satisfaction.
  • 31 December – Some 170,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel during 1950, and 62 ma'abarot housing 93,000 have been set up; another 40,000 are housed in other temporary camps.

Unspecified dates

The following events took place during 1950 :

Births

Deaths