75 years of
Israeli History

On May 14, 1948, Israel declared independence, establishing a Jewish and democratic state in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.

From 1951-1952, Israel rescued 121,000 Jews from Iraq in a daring series of airlifts. They were fleeing years of state-sanctioned violence and oppression in Iraq, ending almost all Jewish life in one of the world's most ancient Jewish communities. Photo by Chen Leopold/Flash90

Israel successfully defended itself against threats of destruction from five Arab states in the Six-Day War, gaining control of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria), the Sinai Peninsula, and Gaza. Israel offered to withdraw from most of this territory in return for peace, but Arab states refused in the infamous “Three Noes of Khartoum.”

8,000 Ethiopian Jews escaped oppression and came home to Israel through an airlift mission called Operation Moses, in the winter of 1984-1985.

Israel has faced numerous waves of violence and conflicts with terrorist groups in the region. The most notable are clashes with the Palestine Liberation Organization from the 1960s-1990s, the 2nd Intifada (2000-2005) where various terrorist groups murdered over 1,000 Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks, a 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a series of conflicts with Hamas and others in Gaza after Hamas took over the territory in 2007. Today, the main terrorist groups that threaten Israel (Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah) are all funded and armed by the regime in Iran. Photo by Attia Muhammed/FLASH90

From 1947-1949, Israel was forced to fight and win a war for its survival. In the first phase, a "civil war" broke out after Palestinian leaders and Arab states rejected the 1947 UN Partition Plan. In the second phase, five Arab armies invaded right after Israel declared independence, with the goal of annihilating the newly born state.

The Moroccan government allows Jews to emigrate to Israel, but only if the Israeli government pays compensation for each Jew who leaves Morocco. Nearly 90,000 Jews are airlifted to Israel, at the cost of $20 million US dollars. Photo by Chen Leopold/Flash90

Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack against Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. Thousands of lives were lost, but Israel succeeded in beating back the invasion. This led to a growing recognition by Egyptian leaders that Israel was there to stay.

After the Soviet Union began to fall in the late 1980s, roughly one million Jews immigrated to Israel from Russia and other former soviet republics. While facing struggles as immigrants, they have played a major role in Israel’s rise as a leader in high tech and innovation, along with many other aspects of Israeli life.

Israel went from having to ration supplies like oil and food to ensure the survival of its growing population in the 1950s, to becoming a major economic success over the course of 75 years. This happened despite having few natural resources, absorbing huge numbers of immigrants and refugees from around the world, an Arab League boycott meant to strangle Israel economically, hyperinflation in the 1980s, and other challenges.

Israel’s airline, EL AL, was established in 1948 along with the State of Israel. El Al embarked on its first flight in the summer of 1949. Photo by Moshe Shai/FLASH90

Jews were always second class citizens at best in the Arab world, but faced a dramatic rise in oppression and violence across the region in the 20th century. From the 1940s-1970s, over 850,000 Jews fled Arab states, and most found refuge in Israel. While they have faced prejudice and discrimination, these Mizrahi Jewish communities have become an integral part of Israeli culture, politics, and society.

In 1976, terrorists hijacked a plane carrying hundreds of civilians from Israel to France and rerouted it to Uganda. In a covert mission, Israeli commandos flew 2,500 miles to Entebbe, Uganda, and rescued the hostages.

In 1991, over the course of just 36 hours, Israeli aircraft brought 14,200 Ethiopian Jews home to Israel in a covert airlift. Photo by FLASH90