January 14, 2018 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in India’s capital, New Delhi, reciprocating a state visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel in 2017, the first by an Indian prime minister. It…
May 21, 2017 Former Mossad agent Shulamit “Shula” Cohen-Kishik dies at age 100 at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. She was born in Buenos Aires and raised between the Argentinian capital and Jerusalem. At…
Arab Knesset member Basel Ghattas reaches a plead deal on charges of smuggling items to prisoners in the first use of the MK Impeachment Law.
September 14, 2014 Abdel Rahman Zuabi, a secular Muslim and proud Israeli who was the first Arab to sit on Israel’s Supreme Court, dies at age 82. Born in the village of Sulam in 1932,…
July 24, 2013 Haredi Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau are elected to 10-year terms as Israel’s chief rabbis — Yosef for the Sephardim and Lau for the Ashkenazim. Each wins 68 of the 147…
Early elections are held following the October 2012 dissolution of the Knesset due to an impasse over the state budget.
Yitzhak Shamir, Israel’s seventh Prime Minister and staunch advocate for settlements in the West Bank, passes away in Tel Aviv at the age of 96.
April 30, 2012 Benzion Netanyahu, the father of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, dies at home in Jerusalem at age 102. He was born Benzion Mileikowsky in Warsaw on March 25, 1910. His father…
Demonstrating against the rising costs of living and economic inequalities in Israel, more than 450,000 protestors fill the streets throughout the country. It is the largest demonstration in Israel’s history.
September 21, 2010 Legal expert and diplomat Shabtai Rosenne, a law professor at Bar-Ilan University, dies of a heart attack at age 92. He is considered one of the most important international lawyers of the…
November 12, 2009 Former Knesset member Eliyahu Speiser dies at age 79. Born in Haifa on March 23, 1930, Speiser was educated at the Hebrew Reali School and Hebrew University, where he earned a degree…
Ephraim Katzir immigrated to Palestine with his family at the age of 9. He goes on to serve as Chief Scientist of the Israel Defense Forces and later as President of Israel.
February 20, 2009 Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud finished second in the Feb. 10 election, receives the mandate to form a government from President Shimon Peres and surprisingly offers to bring leading rivals Kadima and Labor…
February 10, 2009 In the election for the 18th Knesset, the centrist Kadima party of acting Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the acting prime minister, wins the most seats with 28, defying polls that give the…
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigns amid charges of corruption and financial improprieties.
January 4, 2006 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon undergoes a series of life-saving operations at Hadassah Hospital at Ein Kerem to stop bleeding in his brain after experiencing a massive stroke. Sharon, 77, suffered a minor…
Soldiers and policemen begin enforcing the Disengagement Implementation Law, entering Gaza settlements and handing out evacuation orders to settlers.
Led by Israeli television personality Tommy Lapid, Shinui (change), wins fifteen seats in the 2003 Israeli election.
November 10, 2004 More than half a century after the founding of the state of Israel, the Knesset officially adopts “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”) as the national anthem. The song became the anthem of the Zionist…
January 29, 2004 Israel releases more than 430 Arab prisoners — more than 400 to the Palestinian Authority, 29 to surrounding Arab nations, and one German citizen who worked with Hezbollah to Germany, from where…
January 3, 2004 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon orders the Israel Defense Forces to remove two illegal Jewish outposts, Tal Binyamin and Havat Maon, from the West Bank. The announcement is unpopular on the right —…
Simcha Dinitz, a longtime Israeli diplomat who served as Israel’s Ambassador to the United States from 1973-1978, passes away at the age of 74.
Rabbi Zerach Warhaftig, a founder of Israel’s National Religious Party and signatory of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, passes away in Jerusalem at the age of 96.
July 23, 2002 The Knesset votes 51-41 to approve the Tal Law, an effort to address the growing problem of Haredi Jews receiving exemptions from military service. The law, which expires after five years, allows…
