May 7, 2002 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon flies home to Israel, cutting short a visit to the United States, after a suicide bomber kills 15 Israelis and wounds 55 others in a pool hall in…
March 31, 2002 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declares Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat “the enemy of Israel and the enemy of the free world” in an angry, five-minute, mid-Passover address to the nation after…
In the only instance in Israel’s history, a direct election is held for Prime Minister without a simultaneous election for the Knesset.
Israel’s 10th prime minister resigns and calls a special election in a failed attempt to win a popular mandate for his peace policies.
December 4, 2000 The Knesset passes legislation proposed by Ehud Barak, who is Israel’s education minister as well as its prime minister, to prevent discrimination in schools and educational centers. The Pupils’ Rights Law draws…
Leah Rabin, peace advocate and widow of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, passes away at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikvah after battling cancer.
In a move designed to “make the polluter pay,” according to Environment Minister Raphael Eitan, the Knesset passes the Environmental Enforcement Law.
January 28, 1996 About 10,000 Ethiopian Jews from across Israel demonstrate in Jerusalem against the government’s decision to dispose of blood donated by Ethiopian Israelis. The demonstration outside the office of Prime Minister Shimon Peres…
Matti Shmulevitz, a member of the underground Lehi and an advisor to Menachem Begin, passes away at the age of 75 one day after collapsing during a chess game in Tel Aviv.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a prominent actor in virtually all of Israel’s modern history, is assassinated by Yigal Amir at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, sometimes referred to as Oslo II, in a ceremony at the White House.
During his term as President, Barak is instrumental in expanding the court’s power, especially in the area of protecting civil liberties and personal freedoms, often from government rulings or military actions.
January 1, 1995 The full, 1,500-page Agranat Report, the Israeli government’s official assessment of the Israel Defense Forces’ performance during the October 1973 Middle East war, is released to the public, with the exception of…
Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time, Rabin is Prime Minister of Israel and Peres is Foreign Minister.
The Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area, the first of its kind to grant Palestinians a measure of autonomy, is signed by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat in a ceremony in Cairo.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Remez, who led Israel’s Air Force in its early years and served as ambassador to Great Britain, dies in Jerusalem at 74.
Baruch Goldstein, an American immigrant and member of the radical Kach party, opens fire on Muslim worshippers in Hebron, killing thirty and wounding 125 before being beaten to death by survivors.
After nine months of secret contacts mediated by Norwegian diplomats, the PLO and Israel recognize each other’s existence.
The Knesset reaches a compromise to draft a series of Basic Laws that would eventually form a final constitution.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir dismisses Science Minister Ezer Weizman as a consequence of his contact with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization).
November 5, 1990 Israeli politician Rabbi Meir Kahane, 58, is fatally shot by Egyptian-American El Sayyid Nosair in a Manhattan hotel where Kahane is addressing a crowd of mostly Orthodox Jews. Kahane was elected to…
After a distinguished career in the service of Zionism and Israel, Eliahu Eilat passes away in Jerusalem at the age of 86.
Israeli intellectual and former Knesset member Dov Sadan dies at the age of 87.
The Israeli Supreme Court upholds the Central Election Committee’s ban on the extremist right-wing political party Kach from the election for the 12th Knesset.
