2020 in Israel

Events in the year 2020 in Israel.

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Decades:	2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	History of Israel Timeline of Israel history List of years in Israel

Incumbents

• President of Israel – Reuven Rivlin
• Prime Minister of Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu
• President of the Supreme Court – Esther Hayut
• Chief of General Staff – Aviv Kochavi
• Government of Israel – Thirty-fourth government of Israel and Thirty-fifth government of Israel

Events

23 January: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.

28 January: US President Donald Trump unveils his Middle East peace plan with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

January

• 1 January
  • Prime Minister Netanyahu requests parliamentary immunity from the corruption charges against him.
  • Jordan receives its first shipment of natural gas from Israel.
• 5 January – Greece and Israel sign an agreement to build the longest underwater gas pipeline in the world.
• 6 January – The Leviathan gas field begins full operations.
• 7 January – Israeli firm Armis is bought for over US$1 billion by Insight Partners.
• 23 January – The Fifth World Holocaust Forum is held in Jerusalem; President Reuven Rivlin is among world leaders who deliver a speech at this occasion.
• 27 January
  • The 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp is commemorated around the world; Israeli President Reuven Rivlin attends the ceremony at the site of Auschwitz, along with the President of Poland and both leaders condemn the current resurgence of antisemitism.
  • President Rivlin meets with President Andrzej Duda of Poland, and discusses the role of individual Poles in the Holocaust.

March: Drive-through COVID-19 testing is set up (Tel Aviv site shown).

2 March: Twenty-nine parties compete in the 2020 Israeli legislative election (party ballots shown).

• 28 January
  • At the White House, US President Donald Trump unveils his Israeli–Palestinian peace plan, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
  • President Rivlin visits Germany and meets with schoolchildren and German officials, including Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
• 29 January – The Naama Issachar affair ends with a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin and her release from a Russian prison.

February

• 11 February – Israel announces it will install a new water system for use in maximum-security prisons, after discovering that some prisoners are wasting water on purpose.
• 12 February – The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) publishes a database of 112 business entities involved in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
• 21 February – The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel is confirmed when a female citizen tests positive for COVID-19 after returning from quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

March

• 2 March – The 2020 Israeli legislative election takes place; incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc of right-wing and religious parties again win 58 seats, three short of the majority in the next Knesset required to form a government.
• 20 March – An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor in Jerusalem is the country's first fatality of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel.
• 22 March – Eden Alene is chosen to represent Israel in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

April

20 April: Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu announce the formation of a coalition government, which collapses by December.

• 8 April – The first nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel begins on the first night of Passover.
• 20 April – The leaders of the two largest parties in the Knesset, Benny Gantz (Blue and White) and Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), announce that they have reached a coalition agreement to form the next government of Israel, with an alternating premiership arrangement between the two men.

May

• 17 May – The 35th government of Israel is sworn in.

July

July: Israelis protest in Jerusalem against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

• Thousands of Israelis protest in front of the Prime Ministers residence demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over his indictment on corruption charges as well as mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis.
• 3 July – Michael Ben Zikri drowns after rescuing a Bedouin Arab family from a sinkhole near a manmade lake south of Ashkelon; Israeli Bedouin and Arabs as well as people in Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Oman and Syria are among those who praise his heroic self-sacrifice.
• 13 July 2020 – Hapoel Be'er Sheva defeats Maccabi Petah Tikva 2–0 to win the 2019–20 Israel State Cup in association football at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.

August

• 13 August – The Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement is announced.
• 30 August – Israel sends 10 elite firefighters to California to assist local firefighters battling some of the largest fires in the state's recent history.

September

15 September: At the White House, representatives of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain sign agreements establishing diplomatic relations.

• 11 September – The Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement is announced, with the two countries agreeing to establish full diplomatic relations.
• 15 September – Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sign the "Abraham Accords" establishing formal relations between Israel and the two Arab countries, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
• 25 September – The government imposes a second, two-week long lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, closing all but essential businesses, and strictly limiting movement and public gatherings.
• 30 September – Israel's parliament passes a law authorizing the "special coronavirus emergency" and continuing to limit public gatherings; the law is criticized in particular for limiting demonstrations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged corruption and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel.

October

• 14 October – Israeli and Lebanese delegations begin talks, facilitated by the United Nations and the United States, over their disputed maritime border.
• 20 – 22 October – The 38th World Zionist Congress is conducted from Jerusalem by online sessions, with the participation of over 700 delegates and thousands of people from 35 countries to elect leadership positions and determine policy for the World Zionist Organization.
• 23 October – The Israel–Sudan normalization agreement, whereby Israel and Sudan agree to normalize relations, is announced, making Sudan the fifth Arab country to establish formal relations with Israel.

November

• 9 November – An IsraAid team arrived in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, following Hurricane Eta, to provide psychological first aid, medical support and relief items, as well as hygiene kits and water filters to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

December

• 10 December – Morocco and Israel agree to establish diplomatic relations, and Morocco becomes the sixth Arab country to recognize Israel.
• 12 December – Bhutan establishes diplomatic relations with Israel.
• 20 December – COVID-19 vaccination begins with doses from both Pfizer and Moderna to first immunize healthcare workers, followed by the elderly and others at high-risk.
• 23 December – The 23rd Knesset is dissolved as the deadline to approve the 2020 state budget expires without agreement, requiring elections for the fourth time in less than two years.
• 27 December – A third national lockdown begins since the start of the pandemic in response to a resurgence of COVID-19 infections; most schools remain open.
• 30 December – Former American spy Jonathan Pollard and his wife arrive in Israel.

Deaths

• 4 January – Galia Yishai (b. 1950), Israeli actress and singer.
• 7 January – Peter Wertheimer (b. 1947), wind-instrument musician.
• 12 January – Shlomo Eckstein (b. 1929), professor of economics, Rector (1978—1982) and President (1992–1996) of Bar-Ilan University.
• 21 February – Shlomo Aronson), (b. 1936), Holocaust historian and professor of political science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• 29 February – Avraham Barkai (b. 1921) historian and researcher of antisemitism.
• 13 March – Menahem Ben (b. 1948), poet, literary critic, and publicist.
• 16 March – Menachem Friedman (b. 1936), sociologist of religious and secular Judaism, professor of sociology at Bar-Ilan University.
• 21 March – Dov Ben-Meir (b. 1927), politician, member of the Knesset (1981–1988).
• 21 March – Yitzhak Yamin (b. 1938), Iraqi-born painter and sculptor.
• 31 March – Mark Azbel (b. 1932), refusenik, solid-state physicist, professor at Tel Aviv University.
• 6 April – Mark Steiner (b. 1942), academic and professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• 7 April – Albert Almoznino (b. 1923), hand shadow artist and author.
• 10 April – Dov Ben-Dov (1927), Israeli Olympic sports shooter (1952).
• 12 April – Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron (b. 1941), rabbi and Rishon LeZion.
• 26 April – Gideon Patt (b. 1933), MK and Likud minister.
• 1 May – Reuben Perach (b. 1933), Olympic basketball player (1952).
• 2 May – Cheikh Mwijo (b. 1937), Moroccan Jewish and Arabic musician and songwriter.
• 6 May – Nahum Rabinovitch (b. 1928), Orthodox rabbi and posek, head of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe.
• 10 May – Abraham Yakin (b. 1924), Israeli artist.
• 19 May – David Brodman (b.1936), Dutch-Israeli rabbi and peace activist.
• 22 May – Lior Birkan (b. 1963), 17 times Israel woman's champion in swimming events.
• 1 June – Daniel Levy (b. 1930) Israeli Olympic basketball player (1952).
• 16 June – Tamar Bornstein-Lazar (b. 1927), children's books author and educator.
• 21 June – Zeev Sternhell (b. 1935), academic and historian.
• 5 July – Naama Tsal (b. 1981), editor and writer.
• 2 August – Yael Renan (b. 1947), writer and translator, winner of the Tchernichovsky Prize for Translation in 1994.
• 7 August – Adin Steinsaltz (b. 1937), rabbi, teacher, philosopher, author, translator and publisher.
• 10 August – Yisroel Moshe Friedman (b. 1955), sixth Hasidic Rebbe of Sadigura.
• 15 August – Ruth Gavison (b. 1945), human rights expert, professor of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and recipient of the Israel Prize.
• 16 August – Gershon Shafat (b. 1927), politician, member of the Knesset (1984–1992).
• 20 August – Zalman Nechemia Goldberg (b. 1931), rabbi, posek, rosh yeshiva, Encyclopedia Talmudit editor and Jerusalem Rabbinical High Court head.
• 24 August – Avner Golasa (b. 1957), soccer player for (Hapoel Kfar Saba).
• 10 September – Gerald Yakov Blidstein (b. 1938), author, academic, and professor emeritus of Jewish Philosophy, Israel Prize laureate in Jewish philosophy, member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
• 20 September – Meron Benvenisti (b. 1934), political scientist, author and deputy mayor of Jerusalem.
• 20 September – Moshe Sharoni (b. 1929), advocate for the rights of the elderly, Member of the Knesset 2006–2009.
• 21 September – Amos Lin (b. 1933), Israeli Olympic basketball player (1952).
• 26 September – Moshe Efrati (b. 1934), choreographer, founder and artistic director of the Kol Demama Dance Company, and Israel Prize laureate for Dance.
• 2 October – Victor Zalgaller (b. 1920), mathematician in the fields of geometry and optimization.
• 4 October – Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer (b. 1955), Hasidic rabbi, third Rebbe of the Pittsburgh Hasidic Dynasty.
• 7 October – Eitan Haber (b. 1940), journalist, author and publicist.
• 8 October – Shlomo Gazit (b. 1926), Israel Defense Forces Major General, Military Intelligence Directorate head, president of Ben-Gurion University, and director-general of the Jewish Agency.
• 9 October – David Refael ben Ami (b. 1950), singer and anthologist of Hasidic melodies.
• 10 October – Amnon Freidberg (b. 1945), entomologist of taxa of flies.
• 12 October – Yehoshua Kenaz (b. 1937), novelist.
• 16 October – Itzhak Ilan (b. 1956), Israel Security Agency official, former deputy director of the Shin Bet.
• 17 October – Michael Strauss (b. 1934), business man and industrialist.
• 18 October – David Kushnir (b. 1931), Israeli Olympic long jumper (1956, 1960), footballer (Hapoel Balfouria), and athletics coach.
• 20 October – Yehoshua Blau (b. 1919), scholar of Arabic language and literature, professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• 23 October – Yehuda Barkan (b. 1945), actor, screenwriter, film producer and director.
• 6 November – Nathan Zach (b. 1930), academic, poet, Bialik Prize and Israel Prize recipient.
• 8 November – Raphael Hadane (b. 1923), Ethiopian-Israeli religious leader, Kahen of Beta Israel.
• 12 November – Jacob M. Landau (b. 1924), academic, professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Prize laureate.
• 14 December – Moshe Mendelbaum (b. 1933), Israeli economist, Governor of the Bank of Israel 1982–1986.
• 16 December – Yaakov Agmon (b. 1929), Israeli theatre producer, manager and director, founder of Beit Lessin Theater.
• 23 December – Rika Zaraï (b. 1938), singer and writer.
• 24 December – Yehuda Henkin (b. 1945), Orthodox rabbi and posek
• 28 December – Moshe Brawer (b. 1919), geographer, mapmaker and Israel Prize winner.
• 30 December – Yehoshua Matza (b. 1931), Israel Bonds CEO, member of Knesset (1984-2002), and former Minister of Health (1996–1999).

See also

• 2019–20 Israeli constitutional crisis
• 2019–20 Israeli political crisis
• COVID-19 pandemic in Israel
• Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, 2020