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70 years after | Israel today

2021-09-17T12:52:03.000Z


Iraqi Jews flee the inferno and arrive in Israel, the finance minister publishes his phone number at home, and Hapoel Tel Aviv disappoints fans - this time in England • This is what happened this week seven decades ago


Rescue from Baghdad in "Ali Bava"

At the end of April 1951, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, to bring Iraqi Jewry to Israel, seemed to have come to a successful conclusion, exactly two years since its beginning - in April 1950.

In the summer months of 1951, news of harassment by the authorities reached the rest of the Jewish community there, 2,000-1,000 people, from the authorities.

Policemen conducted another hunt for Jews, and dragged them rudely to investigate that was conducted in curses and beatings.

In addition, their jewelry and money were taken, and they were thrown in jail "until the mercy planes arrive to take you" - they were told.

When desperate cries for help arrived in Israel, a twin-engine Dakota plane was organized as part of "Operation Ali Bava," which began flying in mid-September 1951 on the Lod-Baghdad route and back.

In each sortie, about 60 immigrants were flown to Israel, who were taken out of Iraqi prison just before the flight, and transported in police vehicles directly to the plane's ramp, without permission to take any property with them.

Simultaneously with the end of the project to bring 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel, an operation was launched (August 1951) to bring the Persian Jewish community (present-day Iran), which was estimated at 100,000 people and its people lived relatively well at a time when Peres was under American influence.

In the first wave of immigration, about 5,000 immigrants arrived in Israel from Persia, a few of them by plane and most by a convoy of buses that left Tehran for Turkey, from where they took a Turkish train to the port of Izmir, and from there sailed to Haifa.

During the 1950s, about 70,000 Persian Jews immigrated to Israel in this way.

In the years between the establishment of the state (1948) and the Six Day War (1967), more than 850,000 Jews left the Arab countries and Iran, 600,000 of whom came to Israel - and the rest moved mostly to the United States.

A comprehensive study published with the participation of the National Security Headquarters, recently published, shows that Arab Jewry and Iran have left behind assets worth an estimated $ 164 billion in today's values.

Already 18 thousand subscribers: the second phone book has been published

Phonebook for the year 1951, Source: Bispirit website

In mid-September 1951, the postal director general, Zvi Friedberg (later Friher), convened a festive press conference on the occasion of the launch of the new telephone book for the year 5712.

"It has been two years since we published the first telephone directory of the State of Israel, and here we are already celebrating the second, with many innovations and interesting information," the CEO solemnly announced.

Friedberg added that in 1949 there were 4,500 telephone lines in Israel, while the new book contains information on no less than 18,000 subscribers (a fourfold jump in two years), and yet it contains fewer pages than its predecessor, "since we switched to an editing method "It is accepted in Europe, where the information is presented in three columns on each page, compared to two columns in the previous book."

A quick look revealed that while the old book included the phone number in the homes of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and the esteemed ministers - in the new book most of the government went "underground", except for Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan and Labor Minister Golda Myerson (Meir), who were not afraid to present This time, too, their numbers in public.

Throughout the book, detailed explanations have been included regarding the correct use of the telephone, such as: "A Frrrr-Frrrr sound that will be heard when the earpiece is raised - means that you are welcome to start dialing."

It was also reported that in Israel, on average, 141 urban calls and 9.6 long-distance calls are made every minute.

The post director general reported that the national telephone infrastructure relies on 53 exchanges, half of which are already automated, and most of the country's telephone traffic is concentrated in the Tel Aviv area.

The battle for the buses to Eilat

"South Judea" bus to the Tel Aviv-Eilat line, 1951,

On September 16, 1951, a polished bus of the "South Judea" travel cooperative was parked at Tel Aviv Central Station, boarding 37 passengers, including government officials, tourists from South Africa and South America, as well as several IDF officers, who set themselves up for a 10-hour direct ride. It is supposed to inaugurate the bus line to Eilat.

Suddenly, a tourist bus of the Yator company burst into the station area, and stood in front of the bus of "Southern Judea", while six "Yator" taxis surrounded the bus on all sides - and did not allow it to leave the station.

Yator was established by about 20 discharged soldiers and IDF disabled people as a cooperative for transporting and guiding tourists to the south of the country. 

The "Southern Judea" travel cooperative was established as early as 1931 and operated routes from the southern and Negev colonies to Tel Aviv.

The Ministry of Transportation added the new line to Eilat to the cooperative's travel calendar, following which it launched a "protest" in protest and demonstration against this move.

After a 75-minute delay, a representative of the Ministry of Transportation, who was present at the scene, announced that he "undertakes today to raise the issue with the Minister of Transportation" - and the besieged bus set off.

Two months later, the new Minister of Transportation, David Zvi Pinkas, announced his decision to unite all the transportation organizations from Tel Aviv south to one organization called Egged, which also inherited the line to Eilat - while the "Yator" company disbanded and closed.

The electricity on the street was cut off

Phillips plant in Netanya, 1951, Photo: Central Zionist Archive

The IEC's new guidelines for further reductions in electricity quotas, which went into effect in mid-September 1951, caused darkness on major city streets: streetlights, neon lighting on billboards and shop window lighting - all turned off at once.

In addition, residents were required to replace the 100-watt standard light bulbs with lower-power bulbs, but the Phillips factory, which was located in the industrial area of ​​Netanya and produced bulbs, announced its move to South America in those days.

Loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv abroad

Hapoel Tel Aviv's first trip abroad, in September 1951, was accompanied by many mishaps. Just two days before the trip to England, the hosts updated when the plane would take the team players and escorted from Lod to a series of showcase games in England. A large article planned by the Israeli delegation, to which the heads of English Jewry were invited in addition to dignitaries and journalists. By Arsenal, and later lost to Manchester United 6: 1 and parted ways in a game with Leeds United in a "respectable" 2: 0 loss.

From agriculture - to the transit camp

For a year and a half, 60 Yemeni aliyah families worked to occupy the land in the area of ​​the abandoned Arab village of Faram, to which they were brought when they arrived in Israel, promising that "the village and its land are for you."

In mid-September 1951, a representative of the Jewish National Fund arrived at the scene and ordered the work to be stopped.

The immigrants, who meanwhile fell in love with farming, were transferred to the Peer-Am transit camp, which was established in the area they developed, and over the years became the first residents of Hatzor HaGlilit, which was established there in 1956.

The missing / customs that were

"Good signature" letter

Photo: Nitza Wolfensohn,

"Good Signature" greetings were small, standard letters printed in black, as befits the fact that they were supposed to arrive at homes before the terrible Judgment Day - and wish the recipients a good signature, as implied by the oil.

The custom was that if a person or family was not sent a New Year's greeting card on Rosh Hashanah - at least make sure to send a "good signature" card, which will arrive at its destination on the days between cover and decade, as it is written:

The grocery store / items of yesteryear

Utah bags

From the Zvi Nehor Collection / 1945 / "Beitmona" website,

In those days there were jute sacks on the floor of every neighborhood grocery store, including various types of legumes, such as beans, chickpeas and lentils, as well as sugar, rice, flour and more.

Customers would fill what they needed with a large spoon into brown paper bags, and hand over to shopkeepers for weighing.

For years there have been no jute bags in most containers, as the products arrive when they are already weighed and pre-packaged.

The ceramics industry is evolving

Photo: Haim Bar Shem, Doza Antiquities,

September 1951 marked the breakthrough of the artistic ceramics industry in Israel, after the Ministry of Finance announced that due to the chronic shortage of foreign currency, "no more permits will be issued for the import of decorative ceramic products."

In those days there were several small workshops and cooperatives in Israel that created ceramics for gifts, and in the period before the holidays of Tishrei 5712 the shops were flooded with their products. Applied ceramics were popular in the following years as well - Kremos ", which operated in Israel in the 1950s.

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Do you have pictures or souvenirs from the first days of the country?

Write to us: Yor@ShimurIsrael.Org

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-09-17

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