2009 in Israel

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See also:Other events of 2009
History of Israel • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 2009 in Israel.

Incumbents

Events

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 2009 include:

  • May 19 – Netanyahu meets US President Barack Obama at the White House, where they discuss the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and Israel's settlements in the West Bank. While Obama says that a two state solution is a priority, Netanyahu refuses to support the creation of a Palestinian Arab state. Netanyahu says Israel has the right to continue settlements, whereas Obama calls for settlement growth to be frozen.
  • June 14 – Ten days after President Obama's Cairo speech, Netanyahu gives a speech at Bar-Ilan University in which he endorsed, for the first time, a "Demilitarized Palestinian State", after two months of refusing to commit to anything other than a self-ruling autonomy when coming into office. The speech is widely seen as a response to Obama's speech.[16]
  • October 2 – Israel releases twenty female Palestinian Arab prisoners to the Gaza Strip and in exchange the Hamas releasing a videotape that proves that the Israeli captured soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive.[17][18]
  • October 2 – The first video of the Israeli kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is released to the public.
  • November 25 – Prime Minister Netanyahu announces a ten-month settlement moratorium in permits for new settlement homes in the West Bank (excluding east Jerusalem), seen as a result of pressure from the Obama administration, which urged the sides to seize the opportunity to resume talks. In his announcement, Netanyahu calls the move "a painful step that will encourage the peace process" and urges the Palestinian Arabs to respond.[19]

Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets

2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. From top to bottom right: A Qassam rocket fired from a civilian area in Gaza towards Israel, Grad rocket fired from Gaza hits a kindergarten classroom in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva, An Israeli attack in the Gaza strip, Aftermath of an Israeli bombing.

The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 2009 include:

  • January and February – Sudan Air Strikes: a series of two air strikes in Sudan and one in the Red Sea took place, allegedly conducted by the Israeli Air Force against Iranian arms being smuggled to the Gaza Strip through Sudan.[20][21] The Israeli government hinted that Israeli forces were involved in the incident.[22][23]
  • Operation Cast Lead
    • January 1 – Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip city of Jabalia kills senior Hamas military commander Nizar Rayan and six members of his family.[24]
    • January 3 – Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as the Gaza War enters its second week.[25]
    • January 17 – Israel announces a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza War. It comes into effect the following day,[26] on which Hamas declares a ceasefire of its own.[27][28][29]
    • January 21— Israel completes its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.[30] Intermittent air strikes by both sides of the preceding war continue in the weeks to follow.[31][32][33]

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

Main articles: Palestinian political violence § The strengthening of Hamas (2005 – present); and List of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, 2009

The most prominent Palestinian militant acts and operations committed against Israeli targets during 2009 include:

  • January 27 – Palestinian Arab militants detonate a bomb at the Kissufim crossing, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three others.[34]
  • March 5 – A Palestinian Arab resident of east Jerusalem attacks an Israeli police car and a bus on the Menachem Begin Expressway in Jerusalem using a bulldozer, injuring two police officers before being shot to death.[35]
  • April 2 – Bat Ayin ax attack: A Palestinian Arab man armed with a pickax rampages in the Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, killing 13-year-old Israeli boy, Shlomo Nativ, and wounding a seven-year-old boy before fleeing the area.[36] Islamic Jihad and Imad Mughniyeh claim responsibility for the attack.[37]
  • June 16 – Ten Palestinian Arab terrorists belonging to an al-Qaida-cell launch an attack at the Karni crossing using horses "laden" with explosives. Four terrorists and the horses are killed in the ensuring firefight with the IDF. No IDF soldiers are wounded.[38]

Notable deaths
Ephraim Katzir
Dudu Topaz's grave in the "Yarkon" cemetery.
  • January 7 – Yaakov Banai (born 1920), Polish-born Israeli Lehi commander.[39]
  • January 26 – Avraham Ravitz (born 1934), Israeli politician, member of the Knesset (1988–2009) – heart failure.[40]
  • February 1 – Arieh Levavi (born 1912), Russian (Lithuania)-born Israeli public servant, Ambassador to Argentina at the time of the capture of Adolf Eichmann.[41]
  • February 5 – Raaphi Persitz (born 1934), Israeli chess master.
  • February 5 – Noah Weinberg (born 1930), American-born Israeli rabbi, founder of Aish HaTorah.[42]
  • February 20 – Shraga Weil (born 1918), Czechoslovak (Slovakia)-born Israeli painter.[43]
  • February 21 – Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro (born 1929), Soviet-born Israeli mathematician – Parkinson's disease.[44]
  • March 8 – Daud Turki (born 1927), Israeli Arab Communist poet and political activist, convicted of treason.
  • April 26 – Salamo Arouch (born 1923), Greek-born Israeli boxer and Holocaust survivor.[45]
  • April 29 – Moshe Weinfeld (born 1925), Polish-born professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[46]
  • May 9 – Mendi Rodan (born 1929), Romanian-born Israeli conductor, composer and violinist – cancer .
  • May 20 – Yehoshua Zettler (born 1917), Israeli resistance fighter (Lehi).[47]
  • May 25 – Amos Elon (born 1926), Austrian-born Israeli author and journalist.[48]
  • May 25 – Ephraim Katzir (born 1916), Russian (Ukraine)-born Israeli biophysicist and politician, President (1973–1978).[49]
  • June 26 – Jo Amar (born 1930), Moroccan-born Israeli singer.[50]
  • June 26 – Amnon Kapeliouk (born 1930), Israeli journalist and author.[51]
  • July 15 – Avraham Ahituv (born 1930), German-born Israeli intelligence chief, Director of the Shin Bet (1974–1980).[52]
  • July 17 – Meir Amit (born 1921), Israeli major general and politician.[53]
  • August 4 – Amos Kenan (born 1927), Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright and novelist – Alzheimer's disease.[54]
  • August 8 – Yehuda Cohen (born 1914), Israeli Supreme Court justice.[55]
  • August 10 – Yosef Tamir (born 1915), Russian (Ukraine)-born Israeli politician and environmental activist, member of the Knesset (1965–1981).[56]
  • August 20 – Dudu Topaz (born 1946), Israeli actor – suicide by hanging.[57]
  • September 7 – Ra'anan Naim (born 1935), Libyan-born Israeli politician, member of Knesset (1981–1984).[58]
  • October 7 – Moni Fanan (born 1946), Israeli basketball team manager – suicide hanging.[59]
  • October 7 – Shlomo Lorincz (born 1918), Hungarian-born Israeli politician – heart failure.[60]
  • November 2 – Amir Pnueli (born 1941), Israeli computer scientist and Turing Award winner.[61]
  • November 12 – Emanuel Zisman (born 1935), Bulgarian-born Israeli politician, Member of Knesset (1988–1999).[62]
  • November 14 – Moshe Gidron (born 1925), Israeli soldier, major general in the IDF.[63]
  • December 23 – Ike Aronowicz (born 1923), Danzig-born Israeli naval captain who during the Mandate period was the captain of the illegal immigrants ships "SS Exodus" and "Pan York" (Kibbutz Galuyot).[64]

Major public holidays
Main article: Public holidays in Israel

See also

References
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