1989 in Israel

Incumbents

• Prime Minister of Israel – Yitzhak Shamir
• President of Israel – Chaim Herzog
• Chief of General Staff - Dan Shomron
• Government of Israel - 23rd Government of Israel

  Events

• July – The 1989 Maccabiah Games are held.
• July 28 – Israeli commandos entered Lebanon and kidnapped Sheik Abdel Karim Obeid, chief of Hezbollah..
• September 19–22 – Mount Carmel forest fire: One of the largest forest fire in Israel's history. The fire extended over 6,000 dunam, devastates 3,200 dunam of natural forest areas of Aleppo pine on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, close to the city of Haifa.

  Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

• February 24 - Sergeant Binyamin Meisner ambushed and killed with cement block thrown from rooftop in the Kasbah in Nablus.
• March 21 – 1989 Tel Aviv stabbing attack: A knife-wielding Palestinian Arab attacks Israeli civilians at random in Tel Aviv, killing two and wounding a third.
• May 3 – Hamas; Kidnapping and murder of Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon.
• July 6 – Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 attack: The first Palestinian Arab suicide attack is carried out inside Israel's borders on a crowded Egged bus when a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member seizes the steering wheel from the driver and pulls the bus over a steep precipice into a ravine in the area of Qiryat Ye'arim. 16 passengers are killed.

  Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets

• May 19 – First Intifada: The Palestinian leader Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, was arrested by Israel. Yassin was later on sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in attacks against Israelis.

  Notable Israeli militant operations

• February & March – Sicarii claimed responsibility for multiple arsons and graffiti attacks of leftist Jewish political figures considered sympathetic to the plight of Palestinians.
• April 10 – Lone gunman wearing an israeli army-issue uniform shot down four Arabs outside Jerusalem's Old City with a sub-machine gun. Sicarii claims responsibility for the shooting.

  Unknown dates

• The founding of the kibbutz Neot Smadar.

  Notable births

• March 4 – Omer Goldman, Israeli activist
• July 11 – Liel Kolet, Israeli singer, of Indian Jewish descent
• July 22 – Yon Tumarkin, Israeli actor
• August 11 – Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer

  Notable deaths

• January 4 – Dvora Netzer, Russian -born Israeli politician.
• February 21 – Moshe Unna , German-born Israeli politician.
• April 9 – Moshe Ziffer, Austro-Hungarian -born Israeli sculptor.
• June 22 – Menahem Stern, Polish-born Israeli historian.
• October 14 – Dov Sadan, Austro-Hungarian -born Israeli academic and politician.
• October 20 – Dahn Ben-Amotz, Polish-born Israeli journalist and author.
• Full date unknown
• * Manfred Aschner German -born Israeli microbiologist and entomologist.
• * Akiva Vroman, Dutch-born Israeli geologist.

  Major public holidays