Events in the year 1994 in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Incumbents

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...

–

Ezer Weizman Ezer Weizman (, ; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was an Israeli major general and politician who served as the president of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air ...

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...

–

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

(

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

) * President of the Supreme Court –

Meir Shamgar Meir Shamgar (; August 13, 1925 – October 18, 2019) was the chief justice of the Israeli Supreme Court from 1983 to 1995. Biography Meir Shamgar (Sterenberg or Sternberg) was born in the Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland) to E ...

* Chief of General Staff –

Ehud Barak Ehud Barak ( ; born Ehud Brog; 12 February 1942) is an Israeli former general and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister from 1999 to 2001. He was leader of the Israeli Labor Party, Labor Party between 1997 and 20 ...

Government of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises Executive (government), executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of Minister (government), ministers who are chosen and led by the Prime Minister of Israel, prime ministe ...

– 25th Government of Israel

Events

* January 12 – Major General

Nehemiah Tamari Nehemiah Tamari (; November 17, 1946 – January 12, 1994) was an Israeli major general (''Aluf'') and the commander of Central Command in 1993–1994. Military service Tamari was born on kibbutz Ein Harod. After finishing school, he was drafted ...

's helicopter crashed near Central Command headquarters, killing both him and three other officers. * May 21 – Mustafa Dirani kidnapping: Israeli commandos kidnap

Mustafa Dirani Mustafa Dirani (; born 1951) is a former head of security in the Amal Movement in Lebanon. In 1987, he started reaching out to pro-Iran sources, and eventually established contact between them and the rest of the Amal leadership. He was eventuall ...

, an officer of the Lebanese Amal

Shi'a Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor ( caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community ( imam). However, his right is understoo ...

militia. (see Ron Arad). * July 25 – Israel and

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

sign the Washington Declaration which formally ends the

state of war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the public signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national govern ...

that had existed between them since 1948. * August 8 – The Wadi Araba Crossing opens, becoming the first border crossing between Israel and

. * October 26 – Israel and

sign the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, witnessed by US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1994 include: * February 25 – Cave of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Mosque massacre: American-Israeli ultra-Zionist

Kahanist Kahanism () is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel. Kahane held the view that most Arabs living in Israel are the enemies of Jews and Israel its ...

Baruch Goldstein Baruch Kopel Goldstein (; born Benjamin Carl Goldstein; December 9, 1956 – February 25, 1994) was an American and Israeli physician and religious extremist who, in 1994, murdered 29 Palestinian people in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West ...

opens fire inside the

Cave of the Patriarchs The Cave of the Patriarchs or Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Jews by its Biblical name Cave of Machpelah () and to Muslims as the Sanctuary of Abraham (), is a series of caves situated south of Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the ...

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

, in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

; killing 29 and injuring 125 Palestinians in prayer. Goldstein is fatally beaten by the surviving Palestinians. * May 4 – Israel and the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in both the occupied Palestinian territories and the diaspora. ...

sign the

Gaza–Jericho Agreement The Gaza–Jericho Agreement, officially called Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area, was a follow-up treaty to the Oslo I Accord in which details of Palestinian autonomy were concluded. The agreement is commonly known as the 1994 C ...

. * May 18 – Israeli forces withdraw from

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

and

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

in compliance with the

Oslo accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

. * December 10 –

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

and

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

receive the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

. Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
The most prominent Palestinian militant acts and operations committed against Israeli targets during 1994 include: Piguaafula

* April 6 – Afula Bus suicide bombing attack: Eight Israelis are killed by a Palestinian Arab suicide car bombing attack, in

Afula Afula () is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of , the city had a population of . Afula's ancient tell (settlement mound) suggests habit ...

. * April 13 – Hadera central station suicide bombing attack: Five Israelis are killed and another 30 are wounded during a Palestinian Arab suicide attack on a public bus in

Hadera Hadera (, ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon plain, Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5 mi) of ...

during Israel's Fallen Soldiers Remembrance Day. * July 26 – Attack on the embassy of Israel in London: A vehicle packed with 30 pounds of explosives exploded at the Israeli Embassy in London, wounding 20. Five Palestinians were arrested in London in January 1995 in connection with both bombings. * October 9 –

Kidnapping of Nachshon Wachsman The abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman was a 1994 incident in which Palestinian Hamas abducted Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman from the Bnei Atarot junction in central Israel, and held him hostage for six days. The incident ended in a ...

: IDF soldier Corporal

Nachshon Wachsman The abduction and killing of Nachshon Wachsman was a 1994 incident in which Palestinian Hamas abducted Israeli soldier Nachshon Wachsman from the Bnei Atarot junction in central Israel, and held him hostage for six days. The incident ended in a ...

is kidnapped by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

militants disguised as Jewish settlers. They later demand the release of

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin (; June 1936 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization. He also served as the first chairman of the Hamas Shura Council and ...

and another 200 Palestinian Arab prisoners from Israeli prison in return for Wachsman's release. * October 19 –

Dizengoff Street bus bombing The Dizengoff Street bus bombing was a Hamas suicide attack on a passenger bus driving down Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv in 1994. At that time, it was the deadliest suicide bombing in Israeli history, and the first successful attack in Tel Aviv ...

: 21 Israelis and a Dutch national are killed after a

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

on a bus in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. This was the first major suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

claims responsibility for the bombing. * November 11 –

Netzarim Junction bicycle bombing The Netzarim Junction bicycle bombing was a suicide bombing which occurred on November 11, 1994, at the Netzarim Junction, an Israeli Army checkpoint located in the Gaza Strip. In the attack, three Israeli soldiers were killed and six Israeli sol ...

: Three Israeli soldiers are killed when a Palestinian Arab detonated explosives strapped to his body as he rode his bicycle into an

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

checkpoint at a road junction close to the former Israeli settlement of

Netzarim Netzarim () was an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip about 5 kilometers southwest of Gaza City. It was established in 1972. In August 2005, the inhabitants of Netzarim were evicted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of Israel's uni ...

. * November 30 – IDF soldier Sgt. Liat Gabai, 19, is axed to death by the Palestinian Arab Islamic militant Wahib Abu Alrub in the center of the Israeli city

. * December 25 – Jerusalem Binyanei HaUma suicide bombing: 13 people are injured in a suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem. Hamas claims responsibility. Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets
The most prominent Israeli military

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

operations (

military campaign A military campaign is large-scale long-duration significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of interrelated military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war. The term derives from th ...

s and

military operations A military operation (op) is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operatio ...

) carried out against

Palestinian militants Palestinian political violence refers to acts of violence or terrorism committed by Palestinians with the intent to accomplish political goals in the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Common objectives of political violence by Pal ...

during 1994 include: * October 14 – Israeli elite special forces unit

Sayeret Matkal Sayeret Matkal () (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262) (English: General Staff Reconnaissance Unit), is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff (''matkal''). It is considered one of the premier special forces units of ...

attempt to free the kidnapped IDF hostage

held by Palestinian assailants in the village of

Bir Nabala Bir Nabala (; ) is a Palestinian enclave town in the West Bank located eight kilometers northeast of Jerusalem, in Palestine. In mid-year 2006, it had an estimated population of 6,100 residents. By 2017, the population was 6,004 Three Bedouin t ...

in the

; Wachsman and Nir Poraz, the commander of the rescue force, are killed by the assailants during the raid.

Notable deaths

* January 10 –

Yigal Hurvitz Yigal Hurvitz (; 15 October 1918 – 10 January 1994) was an Israeli farmer, businessman and politician who served as a government minister in the late 1970s and 1980s. Biography Hurvitz was born in Nahlat Yehuda (today part of Rishon LeZion) i ...

(born

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

), Israeli politician. * January 12 –

(born

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

), Israeli major general (''

Aluf ( or "first/leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. In addition to the ''aluf'' rank, fo ...

'') and head of Central Command. * February 13 – Simcha Holtzberg (born 1924), Polish-born Israeli activist and Holocaust survivor. * February 19 – Yitzhak Yitzhaky (born

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

), Israeli educator and politician. * April 3 –

Aharon Remez Aluf Aharon Remez (; 8 May 1919 – 3 April 1994) was an Israeli civil servant, politician and diplomat, and the second commander of the Israeli Air Force. Biography Born in Tel Aviv in 1919, Remez's father David was Israel's first Minister of ...

(born

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

), Israeli civil servant, politician and diplomat, and the second commander of the Israeli Air Force. * May 7 –

Haim Bar-Lev Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev (; 16 November 1924 – 7 May 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister. Biography Born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna and raised in Zagreb, Bar-Lev made al ...

(born 1924), Austrian-born Israeli general and politician, eighth Chief of General Staff of the IDF. * June 6 –

Yohai Ben-Nun Yohai Ben-Nun (; December 17, 1924 – June 6, 1994) was the sixth commander of the Israeli Navy, one of the founders of the Israeli Special Forces and a Hero of Israel. Biography Yohai Ben-Nun born on December 17, 1924, in Haifa to a Russian ...

(born

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

), Sixth commander of the Israeli Navy. * June 16 – Yohanan Bader (born 1901), Austro-Hungarian ( Galicia)-born Revisionist Zionist leader and Israeli politician. * July 6 – Baruch Osnia (born 1905), Russian (Belarus)-born Israeli politician * August 8 –

Mordechai Seter Mordecai Seter (; February 26, 1916 – August 8, 1994), was a Russian-born Israeli composer. Early life Seter was born Marc Starominsky in Novorossiysk, Russia, in 1916 and emigrated with his family to Mandate Palestine in 1926.Encyclopaedia Ju ...

(born 1916), Russian-born Israeli composer. * August 18 –

Yeshayahu Leibowitz Yeshayahu Leibowitz (; 29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish public intellectual and polymath. He was a professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a ...

(born 1903), Russian (Latvia)-born Israeli philosopher and scientist. * September 5 –

Shimshon Amitsur Shimshon Avraham Amitsur (born Kaplan; ; August 26, 1921 – September 5, 1994) was an Israeli mathematician. He is best known for his work in ring theory, in particular PI rings, an area of abstract algebra. Biography Amitsur was born in Jeru ...

(born

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

), Israeli mathematician. * October 14 –

(born

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

), kidnapped IDF soldier, killed during an attempted rescue operation. * October 29 –

Shlomo Goren Shlomo Goren (; 3 February 1918 – 29 October 1994), was a Polish-born Israeli rabbi and Talmud#Scholarship, Talmudic scholar. An Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jew and Religious Zionism, Religious Zionist, he was considered a foremost Posek, rabbin ...

(born 1917), Polish-born

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Chief Rabbi of Israel The Chief Rabbinate of Israel (, ''Ha-Rabbanut Ha-Rashit Li-Yisra'el'') is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. It was established in 1921 under the British Mandate, and today operates on the basis of the C ...

Major public holidays

References

External links

IDF History in 1994 @ dover.idf.il
{{Use mdy dates, date=September 2011

Incumbents

Events

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Notable deaths

Major public holidays

See also

References

External links