January 17 – The leader of the Israeli Labor PartyEhud Barak and four other Labor Party MKs announce their resignation from the party and the formation of a new "centrist Zionist and democratic" faction called "Independence".[1]
February 1 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancels the appointment of Yoav Gallant to the post of Israel Defense Forces chief. The announcement came after months of scandal surrounding his appointment due to allegations that he had illegally seized public lands near his home in Moshav Amikam, and after the State ComptrollerMicha Lindenstrauss stated that Galant lied to in an affidavit about exceeding his building rights.[2][3]
March 24 – Israeli women's basketball team Elitzur Ramla wins the women EuroCup final in France after defeating the French team ASPTT Arras 61–53. This was the first time in which an Israeli women's basketball team won a European cup.
March 29 – The Knesset approves an amendment to the Nationality Law in a 37–11 vote. The amendment empowers the Israeli court system to revoke the citizenships of Israeli citizens convicted of terrorism, aiding the enemy in wartime, causing war, serving in enemy forces or espionage.[6][7]
June 17 – A massive gas explosion in an apartment building in Netanya's Independence Square kills three teenage girls (all recent immigrants from France) and an Israeli Arab and injures over 90 others.[10]
June 29 – Nahal Zin fuel leak – a backhoe loader performing maintenance repairs on an underground fuel pipeline in the Negev strikes and ruptures the pipeline, resulting in a massive leak.[11]
July 12 – The Knesset approves a new anti-boycott law, which would allow an Israeli individual or an Israeli organization proposing a boycott against Israel, Israeli institutions or territory under Israel's control, to be sued for compensation by a party claiming that it could be damaged by such a boycott.[12]
November 10 – The Supreme Court of Israel has upheld a seven-year rape sentence against former President Moshe Katsav.[16] Katsav was given one month to put his affairs in order, and will begin serving his sentence on December 7.[17][18]
April 18 – Israel becomes CERN nuclear group member.[20]
July 10 – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces Israel's recognition of the Republic of South Sudan and offers the new state economic help, following its declaration of independence from the Sudan, the previous day.[21]
Arab and Middle Eastern affairs
February 5 – Amidst the 2011 Egyptian protests, an explosion occurs at the Arab Gas Pipeline near the El Arish natural gas compressor station in Egypt, which supplies natural gas to Israel and Jordan. As a result, supplies to Israel and Jordan were halted.[22]
June 12 – Beginning of Ilan Grapel affair: Egyptian officials report the arrest of the 27-year-old Israeli-AmericanIlan Grapel on suspicion of espionage for Israel. Israeli officials have rejected the Egyptian accusations.[25] Later that year, Egyptian officials admitted Ilan Grapel was not a spy, and he was scheduled for release in exchange for 25 Egyptian prisoners held in Israel.[26]
September 2 – Turkey expels Israel's ambassador, downgrades ties with Israel to second secretary level and cancels all military agreements with Israel, hours before a UN report investigating the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid is published.[28][29][30]
September 9 – 2011 Israeli embassy attack: several thousand Egyptian protesters forcibly infiltrate into the Israeli embassy in Egypt, situated in Giza, after breaking down a recently constructed wall to protect the compound. The six embassy staff in a safe room were evacuated eventually from the site by Egyptian commandos, following the personal intervention of US President Barack Obama.[31][32] Following the attack, the deputy ambassador remained in Cairo, and 85 staff members and their families returned to Israel.
September 14 – Israel evacuates the Israeli embassy in Jordan following a warning of a violent anti-Israel demonstration planned to take place near the embassy building. Nearly all the embassy staff returned to Israel at midnight.[33]
October 27 – End of Ilan Grapel affair: Israel releases 25 Egyptian prisoners in order to secure the release of Israeli-American Ilan Grapel, who held been held in Egypt for more than four months on dubious espionage charges.[37]
April 7: Israel succeeded, for the first time in human history, to intercept a short-range missile with the use of the advanced groundbreaking Iron Dome mobile air defense system.After more than five years in Hamas captivity IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was released and returned to Israel, while over a thousand Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners are being released in exchange, October 18, 2011
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that occurred during 2011 include:
January 23 – The Palestine Papers: thousands of confidential documents relating to diplomatic correspondence detailing the inner workings of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, are exposed by the Al-Jazeera news network.[38][39][40] Following this, the Palestinian Authority condemns Al-Jazeera for releasing the documents and denies that the Palestinian Authority had agreed to make far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem as the documents purportedly reveal.[41]
April 7 – The Iron Dome mobile air defense system successfully intercepts a Grad rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli city Ashkelon, marking the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.[46]
July 19 – The French-flagged yacht Dignité Al Karama, which was to have been part of the Freedom Flotilla II, is intercepted and boarded without incident by Israeli commandos, off the coast of Gaza, and escorted to the Port of Ashdod.[54]
July – Flightilla: Pro-Palestinian activists attempt to reach the West Bank by flying first to Israel from European airports. Most of them are stopped before boarding the planes or detained upon arriving to Ben Gurion airport and deported shortly after.[55]
September 2 – A UN report investigating the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid is published, which finds that the IDF acted 'legitimately' in trying to enforce Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip, except for the lack of a final warning to the activists and the use of "excessive" force.[56]
September 23 – The quartet of Middle East negotiators – the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations call on both Israel and Palestine to resume negotiations.[59]
October 18 – Israel and Hamas begin a major prisoner swap in which the Israeli Army soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held in captivity for over five years, is released in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners held in Israel, of whom 477 prisoners are released immediately, including 280 serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating terror attacks, and 550 prisoners are to be released in December 2011.[62]
Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
March 12 – Itamar attack: Two Palestinian teens armed with knives infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Itamar and stabbed to death five Israeli family members, including the parents and three of their children, aged 11, 3 and a four-month-old infant.[63][64]
April 7 – 2011 Israeli school bus anti-tank missile attack: An anti-tank missile fired from the Gaza Strip hits a school bus, moderately wounding the bus driver, and critically injuring a 16-year boy who later died of his wounds.[69]
August 18 – 2011 southern Israel attacks: Eight people were killed and dozens are injured in southern Israel after a string of terrorist attacks on a highway targeting two civilian buses and cars as well a military bus responding to the attacks. Although no organization took responsibility for the attacks the Israeli security establishment blamed the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) in Gaza for carrying out the attacks. In retaliation, Israel launched an air raid on the town of Rafah in which six Palestinians militants from the Popular Resistance Committee were killed, among them two seniors in the organization.[70]
August 29 – 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack: a 20-year-old Palestinian stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular Haoman 17nightclub in Tel Aviv, which was filled with 2,000[71]Israeli teenagers. After crashing into the checkpoint, the attacker jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing several people. Five civilians and four police officers were injured in the attack.[71]
March 15 – The Israeli Navy intercepts the cargo ship "Victoria", which was carrying a long list of advanced weapons that were smuggled from Iran and were allegedly bound for the militant organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.[72]
March 16 – The Israeli Air Force attacks a training site of the Palestinian militant group Al Qassam brigades in the southern part of Gaza city in response to a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at the Israeli southern communities in the Sdot Negev Regional Council in the southern district of Israel. Palestinians reported that three people were killed in the attack and three were wounded.[73][74]
^Noah Rubin-Sterling (March 22, 2011). שחקן הקאמרי ראובן שפר הלך לעולמו [Cameri actor, Reuven Shefer, dies]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2014.
^ז'אק אמיר ז"ל [Jacques Amir dies] (in Hebrew). Avalim. March 31, 2011. Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
^פרופ' נתן שרון ז"ל [Prof. Nathan Sharon dec'd] (in Hebrew). Avalim Notices. June 19, 2011. Archived from the original on September 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
^מת מנכ"ל תע"ש לשעבר מיכאל שור [Death of former CEO of IMI, Michael Shor]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). September 27, 2011. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
^Even, Dan (November 21, 2011). אלי הורביץ, מנכ"ל ויו"ר טבע לשעבר, מת בגיל 79 [Eli Hurvitz, former CEO and Chairman of Teva, dies at the age of 79]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
^Sinai, Liron (December 9, 2011). השחקנית דוידה קרול נפטרה בגיל 94 [Actress Davida Karol Dies at Age 94] (in Hebrew). Ynet. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012. Retrieved December 19, 2011.
^נפטר המלחין מרק קופיטמן [Composer Mark Kopytman dies] (in Hebrew). Reshet Bet. December 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
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