1963 in Israel

Incumbents

• Prime Minister of Israel – David Ben-Gurion until 26 June, Levi Eshkol
• President of Israel – Yitzhak Ben-Zvi until 23 April,, Zalman Shazar from 21 May
• Chief of General Staff - Tzvi Tzur
• Government of Israel - 10th Government of Israel until 26 June, 11th Government of Israel

  Events

• 23 April – President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi dies in office and Kadish Luz, Speaker of the Knesset, becomes acting President pending the election of a new President.
• 21 May – In the 1963 Presidential Election, the Knesset elects Zalman Shazar as President of Israel, by a majority of 67 to 33 votes caste in favour of his opponent, Peretz Bernstein. Shazar assumes office immediately as the third president of the State of Israel.
• 16 June – David Ben-Gurion resigns as Prime Minister for what he describes as personal reasons and chooses Levi Eshkol as his successor.
• 26 June – Levi Eshkol is elected Prime Minister of Israel. The 11th Government is approved that day and the members are sworn in.
• 5 July – Diplomatic relations between the Israeli and the Japanese governments are raised to embassy level.

  Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Unknown dates

• The re-establishment of the moshav Avivim.
• The founding of the kibbutz Grofit.

  Notable births

• 12 January – Rami Heuberger, Israeli actor and entertainer.
• 25 August – Avi Ran, Israeli footballer .
• 18 September – Uri Fink, Israeli comic book artist and writer.
• 4 October – Ronny Rosenthal, former Israeli footballer.
• 5 November – Yair Lapid, Israeli journalist, author, TV presenter and news anchor.
• 20 December – Tal Friedman, Israeli comedian, actor and musician.

  Notable deaths

• 13 February – Daniel Auster, Austro-Hungarian -born Israeli politician, the first Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem.
• 23 April – Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Russian -born Labor Zionist leader and the second President of Israel.
• 17 May – Ami Assaf, Israeli politician.
• 8 June – Haim Boger, Russian -born Zionist activist and Israeli politician.
• 23 July – Shlomo Lavi, Russian -born Zionist activist and Israeli politician.
• 9 October – Yehezkel Kaufmann, Russian -born Israeli philosopher and Biblical scholar.

  Major public holidays