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1981 in Israel

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{{Year in Israel|1981}}

Events in the year 1981 in Israel.

Incumbents

Events

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  • 4 April – Hakol Over Habibi represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Halayla” ("Tonight"), achieving seventh place.{{cite web|url=http://www.diggiloo.net/?1981il|title= 1981 Israel – Halaila|website=Diggiloo Thrush|access-date=2021-07-29}}
  • 28 April – For the first time, Israel intervened directly in the war between Syria and Lebanese Christians, as Israeli jets shot down two Syrian helicopters, killing four crewmen.Mordechai Bar-On, In pursuit of peace: a history of the Israeli peace movement (US Institute of Peace Press, 1996); "2 Syrian 'copters downed by Israel over Lebanon", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 29 April 1981, p1 Israeli warplanes also bombed Syrian positions on Mount Sannine. Israel claimed that it was taking action to "spread a protective umbrella" over the Lebanese Christian militias.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19810428&id=lVtOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RPkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4892,2951452 Israelis down 2 Syrian copters] Additionally, Reagan sends ambassador Philip Habib to the Middle East to convince the Syrians to withdraw missiles.{{Cite web |title=Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1981-1988/lebanon |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=history.state.gov}}
  • 7 June – Operation Opera: Eight Israeli F-16s, escorted by F-15s, attack and severely damage Osirak, an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction near Baghdad, which Israeli military intelligence maintain was built by the regime of Saddam Hussein for the purpose of plutonium production to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program.Grant, Rebecca. [http://www.afa.org/magazine/Aug2002/0802osirak.html "Osirak and Beyond."] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011181040/http://www.afa.org/magazine/Aug2002/0802osirak.html |date=11 October 2008 }} Air Force Magazine, August 2002. Retrieved 16 May 2008. Israeli intelligence also believed that the summer of 1981 would be the last chance to destroy the reactor before it would be loaded with nuclear fuel.
  • 19 June - In addition to demanding that Israel sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and subject its own nuclear program to IAEA safeguards, the UN Security Council denounces Operation Opera as a breach of the UN charter and says that Iraq should receive compensation.{{Cite web |title=Israeli Attack on Iraq's Osirak 1981: Setback or Impetus for Nuclear Weapons? {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/iraq-nuclear-vault/2021-06-07/osirak-israels-strike-iraqs-nuclear-reactor-40-years-later |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}
  • 30 June – The Likud party led by Menachem Begin wins the 10th Israeli legislative elections.
  • June - Operation Opera denounced by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
  • 10 July - The PLO starts launching 130 mm artillery shells and Katyusha rockets at Israel's northern region. Although the Israeli Air Force (IAF) responded with airstrikes, these attacks were not ultimately stopped.{{Cite web |url=https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/wars-and-operations/first-lebanon-war/ |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=www.idf.il}}
  • 17 July - The IAF carries out a massive raid on PLO buildings. The terrorist group increases the intensity of its attacks on northern communities, forcing thousands of Israelis to relocate south or spend several days in shelters.
  • 24 July - US ambassador Philip Habib mediates a ceasefire between the two camps to stop the violence from getting worse.
  • July – The 1981 Maccabiah Games are held.
  • 5 August – Menachem Begin presents his cabinet for a Knesset "Vote of Confidence". The 19th Government is approved that day, and the members are sworn in.
  • September - The IAEA Conference suspends all technical assistance to Israel and denouncs the strike as well.
  • 30 November – The Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation was signed by U.S. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. The MOU lasted only 17 days and was suspended after Israel announced its annexation of the Golan Heights.Robert G. Rabil, Syria, the United States, and the War on Terror in the Middle East (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006) p69
  • November - The UN General Assembly denounced Israel for a deliberate act of aggression in Operation Opera.
  • 14 December – The Knesset approves the "Golan Heights Law" which applies Israel's government and laws to the Golan Heights. The law was condemned internationallyBBC News. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/3393813.stm Regions and territories: The Golan Heights]. and declared null and void by United Nations Security Council Resolution 497.United Nations. [https://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1981/scres81.htm Security Council Resolutions], 1981.Council on Foreign Relations. [http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/SC497.pdf UN Security Council Resolution 497].
  • 18 December – Four days after Israel annexed the Golan Heights, the U.S. terminated its recently made Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel. The MOU was not reinstated until 17 May 1983.Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, The Israeli Connection: Who Israel Arms and Why (I.B.Tauris, 1987) p202

= Israeli–Palestinian conflict =

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which occurred in 1981, include:

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

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{{Main|Palestinian political violence#Establishment of PLO to First Intifada (1964–1987)}}

The most prominent Palestinian Arab terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1981 include:

  • March - A terrorist infiltrating from Lebanon using a motorized hang glider manages to reach Haifa and drop some bombs over the city's bay but is arrested after his glider's motor runs out of fuel and is forced to land.[http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/mfadocuments/yearbook7/pages/292%20statement%20in%20the%20knesset%20by%20defense%20minister%20r.aspx 292 Statement in the Knesset by Defense Minister Rabin - 30 November 1987]
  • 10 August – Palestinian terrorists threw two bombs at an Israeli embassy in Vienna, wounding a 75-year-old woman.
  • 29 August – 1981 Vienna synagogue attack: Palestinian terrorists killed two people and wounded 30 attending a Bar Mitzvah in Vienna.[https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/22/world/around-the-world-palestinians-get-life-in-austrian-slayings.html "Around the World - Palestinians Get Life In Austrian Slayings."] The New York Times. 22 January 1982.

Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets

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The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 1981 include:

  • 10–24 July – The Israeli Defense Forces began a regular bombardment of Palestine Liberation Organization strongholds in Lebanon. The siege escalated after the Palestinian guerillas began shelling Israeli settlements. Until a 24 July ceasefire, 450 Palestinians and Lebanese, and 6 Israelis, diedCheryl A. Rubenberg, Israel and the American National Interest: A Critical Examination (University of Illinois Press, 1989) p267
  • 17 July – Israeli bombing of Beirut: Aircraft from Israel bombed a residential area of West Beirut that housed PLO headquarters. Ten apartment buildings were destroyed, more than 300 people were killed, and 800 or more injured. Most were civilians."The Bombing of Beirut", Journal of Palestine Studies (1981) pp218–225;James Ron, Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel (University of California Press, 2003) p175
  • 24 July – American mediator Philip Habib brokered a cease-fire between Israel and the PLO, temporarily halting the Lebanese Civil War."Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90", Dictionary of Wars (George C. Kohn, ed.) (Infobase Publishing, 2006) p301
  • 1 August – Abu Daoud, the PLO militant who had overseen the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes was shot five times at close range while sitting in the coffee shop of the Victoria Hotel in Warsaw.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vn4xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=z6QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1201,2333085&dq=daoud&hl=en "Suspected Olympic massacre mastermind shot"], Montreal Gazette, 6 August 1981, p10 Edward Mickolus, The Terrorist List: A-K (ABC-CLIO, 2009) p159

=Unknown dates=

Notable births

Notable deaths

File:Moshe Dayan.jpg]]

See also

References

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External links

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