New issues -
🇮🇱 Israel Post -
11 August 2026 - ‘Festivals 2026’, Tales of the Tzaddikim (Jewish sages and spiritual leaders) - 3 stamps with tabs. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.
11 August 2026 - 50th anniversary of Operation Entebbe in which Israeli commandos rescued hostages held by terrorists aboard an airplane in Entebbe Airport in Uganda - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.
11 August 2026 - 90th anniversary of the Graphic Design Association of Israel - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.
11 August 2026 - Summer camps in Israel - 3 stamps with tabs. Lithographed. Rating:- **.
7 July 2026 - 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence by Britain’s north American colonists - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.
24 June 2026 - Centenary of the International Philatelic Federation - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.
19 May 2026 - 75th anniversary of the introduction of Israel Bonds - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- **.
19 May 2026 - The synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- ***.
19 May 2026 - 50th anniversary of the Israeli Centre for Libraries - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- **.
19 May 2026 - Centenary of the City of Afula - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- **
20 April 2026 - Memorial Day commemorating fallen Israeli military and civilians killed by terrorists - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.
20 April 2026 - Lag BaOmer, Jewish festival - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:-***.
12 February 2026 - Commemoration of Shlomo Hillal, diplomat and politician - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed, Rating:- **.
12 February 2026 - 30th anniversary of the Yahalom Unit, elite military unit - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:-***.
12 February 2026 - Nature reserves - 3 stamps with tabs. Lithographed. Rating:- ****.
12 February 2026 - Operation DUGO, cultural and remembrance event held to honour the survivors of the Holocaust and the death marches from Auschwitz concentration camp where approximately 1 million Jewish people were murdered by the Germans during the Second World War - 1 stamp with tab. Lithographed. Rating:- *****.
The 12 February 2026 - Bridges of Israel - 2 stamps with tabs issued as a se-tenant pair. Lithographed. Rating:- **.
Automatic teller machine stamps (ATMs) - Tanks of the Israeli Defence Force -
19 May 2026 - 2 stamps -
12 February 2026 - 1 stamp -
Britain became involved in the Middle East area of conflict of the First World War in order to defeat the Ottoman Empire which was an ally of the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. As such the British played a major part in helping the Arabs to liberate themselves from centuries of Ottoman rule but also became involved in the eventual establishment of a Jewish state when in November 1917, Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary and former prime minister from 1902 to 1905, wrote to Lord Rothschild, the figurehead leader of the British Jewish community, in which he wrote, “I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to and approved by the cabinet”. Balfour went on to write, “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate this achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights or political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.
A copy of Balfour’s letter, which became known as the Balfour Declaration, can be seen at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, the former home of the Rothschilds. It is small in size but enormous in the effects it has had on 20th and 21st century history. The Israeli postal service issued stamps to commemorate both the 50th and 100th anniversaries of the Balfour Declaration (see illustrations below).
Balfour’s letter to Rothschild, a historic letter of the utmost importance and significance:-
British forces captured Jerusalem from the Ottomans in December 1917 and began a military administration in Palestine and then, in April 1920 the United Kingdom was awarded a mandate to administer Palestine and this was officially agreed by the League of Nations in July 1922.
After the end of the Second World War, the United Kingdom government, in the face of Jewish insurgency in Palestine, declared the territory to be ungovernable and handed the problem over to the United Nations which voted in November 1947 to partition the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem under joint International administration. While the Jewish leaders accepted the plan, Arab leaders rejected it. There was immediate civil war and Britain withdrew its troops on 14 May 1948 with effective termination of the United Kingdom’s mandate at midnight on 15 May, hence triggering the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.
There have been many philatelic consequences of the events which occurred from 1917 onwards and many are reflected in the continuing stamp issues from Israel Post and so new issues will now be featured here in future editions of Commonwealth Stamps Opinion.
