History events
1298 — (7th of Iyar, 5058) In Rotttingen, a small German town in Franconia, a local noble named Rindfleish, accused the local Jews of profaning the host. He then incited the Burgher and local populace to join in the killing. Twenty one Jews were murdered. The killing soon spread to a hundred and forty communities in Bavaria and Austria. In all tens of thousands of Jews were either killed or wounded. The killing stopped when the civil war raging through Germany ended. Albrecht, the newly chosen Emperor, brought an end to the violence and even punished some the participants
1936 — (28th of Nisan, 5695) Jews repelled an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah. This attack was part of the Arab Uprising that lasted from 1936 until 1939; “In an attack in the Shapira quarter, a Jewish suburb of Jaffa, Arabs killed two Jews and wounded several others” including “a Jewish youth riding a bicycle in Jaffa” who “was beaten so severely that he died almost instantly.”; “The Yemenite Jewish quarter outside of Tel Aviv” was destroyed by fire set by Arabs; Part of a mob of three hundred Haurani Arabs “broke into the home of a Jewish family in Manshieh quarter and killed the father and injured the mother who was transported by the police along with their three children to Hadassah Hospital
1938 — (19th of Nisan, 5698) The Palestine Post reported that, forty «illegal» Jewish immigrants who had been in Palestine for many years, declared a hunger strike in order to persuade the mandate’s authorities to change their status from «illegal» immigrants whom the courts failed to deport, to that of recognized permanent residents, so that they could bring here their families from abroad
1941 — German newspapers in Greece come out blaming Jews for ruining Germany after World War I. During this same period in April, the Greek newspaper New Europe wrote in capital letters “DEATH TO THE JEWS.” The paper reported that the Jews were the cause of economic problems in Germany
1948 — (11th of Nisan, 5708) On the eve of Pesach, «the last food convoy after Operation Nachson, made up of some 300 trucks brought provisions to Jerusalem; а convoy that included Prime Minister David Ben Gurion set out from Tel Aviv to the besieged city of Jerusalem. Ben Gurion wanted to spend Pesach in Jerusalem with the beleaguered defenders as a way of raising moral. The trip was extremely dangerous because the Arabs controlled the high ground on both sides of the highway and had successfully beaten back several other such attempts. While Ben Gurion, who was traveling in one of the lead vehicles, made it through, the rest of the convoy came under heavy attack and was forced to turn back after suffering heavy casualties. This was only one of the many battles fought to open the road to Jerusalem; Twenty Jewish soldiers were killed today when “a second attempt was made to” take Metzudat Koach, a Tegart fort built by Solel Boneh during the British Mandate” that “was a key observation point on the Naftali heights, overlooking the Hula Valley” which had been seized by the Arabs thus threatening the existence of kibbutzim in the Upper Galilee; Five members of Haganah were killed and twenty-four were wounded during a day long fight “at Deir Ayoub, just short of the gorges of Bab El Wad” with Arabs who were trying to keep a convoy from reaching Jerusalem which was under siege that was a violation of international law; “Arab throngs turned out at Amman to welcome The Grand Mufti, Haj Amin el Husseini” prior to his meeting with King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan who has intimated that his Arab Legion would soon join armies from Arab nations in an invasion of Palestine
1987 — (21th of Nisan, 5747) Two Israeli soldiers and three Palestinian guerrillas were killed today in a shootout after the Palestinians cut through a Lebanon border fence and crossed into northern Israel
People
1103 — (10th of Iyar, 4863):Ninety-year old Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen, also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif (Rabbi Isaac al-Fasi). Passed away today in Lucena, Al-Andalus
1344 — (28th of Nisan, 5104) Levi Ben Gershon (the RaLBaG) also known as Gersonides passed away