History events
70 — (2rd of Sivan, 3830) During the Siege of Jerusalem, Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometers
1096 — (6rd of Sivan, 4856) Massacre of Jews at Cologne by Crusaders; ….. In one of the few instances of individual courage, the local Bishop of Cologne and some of the local Burghers offered the Jews protection in their own houses. The Bishop later escorted them to towns under his protection. Crusaders reached Cologne and found the gate to the city closed by order of the bishop. Of all the Jewish communities in the path of the Crusaders, Cologne’s Jews were the only ones to escape total destruction
1497 — (29rd of Sivan, 5257) King Ferdinand of Spain “proclaimed in a royal decree that Luis de Santangel and his family, present and future, were to be protected from the inquisition.” Born at Valencia Santangel, a baptized Jew, was the finance minister to the Spanish monarchs who convinced them to sponsor Columbus’ voyage to the new world. He raised the funds himself.
1806 — (13rd of Sivan, 5566) A decree was issued today requesting that a special assembly of Jewish leaders and Rabbis from all of the different French departments, would meet in Paris and discuss all outstanding matters including answering questions dealing with accusations against the Jews made by the anti-Semites.
1909 — (10rd of Sivan, 5669) Reuben Siegel laid the cornerstone for the first home in Tel-Aviv
1948 — (21rd of Iyar, 5708) War for independence. ….. At dawn this morning forces of the Irgun captures Ras el Ein near Petah Tikva the source of Jerusalem’s water supply. By nightfall, the Jewish troops had to give up their hard won victory because of counterattacks from a larger force of Iraqi soldiers; In the skies above Israel, Arab aircraft were on the attack striking at Jewish forces in several locations including Zirin, a village near Jenin, Kinereth near Timeria, Rebovoth, near Ramleh, Merchavia and Afula which was the target for incendiary bombs. The newly-minted Israeli air force struck at Tel el Kasser on the Trans Jordan border and at an area near Isdud where Egyptian forces were assembling to move on Jaffa. The Israelis lost one plane in the attack; Israel’s last remaining dissident organization, the Stern Group, announced tonight that it had been incorporated into the regular Israeli army
1961 — (15rd of Sivan, 5721) Prime Minister David Ben Gurion met with President John F. Kennedy in the Presidential suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The meeting lasted for an hour and a half. The two leaders discussed the sale of HAWK missiles to Israel, the reactor at Dimona and need to make some sort of conciliatory gesture concerning the Palestinian refugees
1967 — (20rd of Iyar, 5727) King Hussein of Jordan visited Cairo. ….. At the meeting Nasser produced a file containing the Syrian-Egyptian defense pact” King Hussein was, in his own words “so anxious to reach agreement that told Nasser to give him another copy of the agreement, “replace the word Syrian with the word Jordan” so that he could join the alliance without delay. Apparently, Hussein was not the reluctant participant he would later claim to have been. This was part of Arab efforts to create a united military front in what would become the Six Day War which would begin a week later. When the war broke out, the Israelis sent word to the Jordanians asking them to stay out of the fight. The Israelis assured the Jordanians that they had no intention of attacking them. The Jordanian response was to starting shelling Israel. It was this action by the Jordanians which led the Israelis to the Green Line and drive the Jordanians out of east Jerusalem
1969 — (13rd of Sivan, 5729) Palestinian terrorists blew up the oil pipeline which passes through the Golan Heights. Thousands of tons of crude oil polluted the river-beds, but were blocked before they could reach Lake Kinneret
1972 — (17rd of Sivan, 5732) In Tel Aviv, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others
1978 — (23rd of Iyar, 5738) The Jerusalem Post reported that Tadiran gave a sneak preview of its miniature, remotely-controlled pilotless reconnaissance aircraft, the Mastiff.
People
1096 — (6th of Sivan, 4856) In Cologne, Mar Isaac and Rebecca perish in an act of Kiddush Ha-Shem; Isaac of Mayence committed suicide on Shavuot two days after he had he submitted to forced baptism to save the lives of his mother and children. According to legend, he set the synagogue on fire to keep it from being turned into a church
1794 — (1rd of Sivan, 5554) Ignaz Moscheles, German composer, born
1844 — (12th of Sivan, 5604) Italian physician and author Benedetto Frizz (AKA Benzion Raphael Kohen) passed away today