1988 in Israel

• President of Israel – Chaim Herzog
• Prime Minister of Israel – Yitzhak Shamir (Likud)
• President of the Supreme Court – Meir Shamgar
• Chief of General Staff – Dan Shomron
• Government of Israel – 22nd Government of Israel until 22 December, 23rd Government of Israel

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• 6 January – Michel Sabbah is consecrated as Roman Catholic Bishop of Jerusalem becoming the first Palestinian Arab to hold this position.Journal of Palestine Studies. Volume XVII No 3 (67) Spring 1988. {{ISSN|0377-919X}}. Page 221. Chronology compiled by Katherine M. LaRiviere.
• 15 January – In Jerusalem, police and Palestinian protestors clash at the Dome of the Rock; several police and at least 70 Palestinians are injured.{{cite book|author=John Hohenberg|title=Israel at 50: A Journalist's Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZYgGY7lLF8C&pg=PA231|date=1 May 1998|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-0518-8|pages=231}}
• 17 January – Education Minister Yitzhaq Navon orders the mobilisation of high school students to assist in the citrus fruit harvest in a crisis caused by the absence of Palestinian Arab workers.JoPS (67). Page 225. Cites New York Times 1/18.
• 18 February – Israeli authorities close Tari al-Sharara a Hebrew/Arabic newspaper published in Israel.Journal of Palestine Studies {{ISSN|0377-919X}}. Vol XVII No 4 (68) Summer 1988. Page 209. Chronology by K.M. LaRiviere.
• 25 February – A camera crew working for a US network film four Israeli soldiers breaking arms of two bound Palestinian Arabs.JoPS (68). Cites Washington Post 2/27. On 15 March the IDF announced that one of the soldiers had been sentenced to 21 days in prison, a second to ten days.JoPS (68). Page 220. Cites Washington Post 3/16.
• 13 March – An estimated 200,000-250,000 Israelis demonstrate in support of Prime Minister Shamir's rejection of US peace proposals. The day before, 12 March, Peace Now held a demonstration of 50,000 in favour of the plan.JoPS (68) Page 219. Cites New York Times 3/14 and Washington Jewish Week 3/17. Organised by Gush Emunim.
• 24 March – An Israeli court sentences Mordechai Vanunu to 18 years in prison for disclosing Israel's nuclear weapons program to The Sunday Times.
• 25 April – In Israel, Ivan Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was accused by survivors of being the notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible". The conviction was eventually overturned in 1993 by the Israeli Supreme Court.
• 30 April – Yardena Arazi represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Ben Adam” ("Human Being"), achieving seventh place. {{cite web|url=http://www.diggiloo.net/?1988il|title= 1988 Israel – Ben adam|website=Diggiloo Thrush|access-date=2021-07-29}}
• 18 June – UK government expels Israeli diplomat and orders end of Mossad activities in UK following the killing of Naji al-Ali.
• 16 August – Two prisoners are killed when 1,000 Palestinian Arab detainees riot at Ktzi'ot Prison.B'Tselem, (October 1992), Detained without trial. http://www.btselem.org/Download/199210_Detained_without_Trial_Eng.doc - Page 31. Names those killed as Ibrahim Samudi (27), As'ad Jabri Shoo (19).
• 19 September – Israel launches Ofek-1, its first reconnaissance satellite, into space.
• 30 October – Jericho bus firebombing: Five Israelis are killed and five wounded in a Palestinian attack in the West Bank.{{cite book|author=Ami Ayalon|title=Middle East Contemporary Survey, Volume Xii, 1988|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gce1I2KAxdwC&pg=PA120|date=25 September 1990|publisher=The Moshe Dayan Center|isbn=978-0-8133-1044-2|pages=120}}
• 1 November – In the Israeli election, Likud wins 47 seats, Labour wins 49, but Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir remains in office.
• 22 December – Yitzhak Shamir presents his cabinet for a Knesset "Vote of Confidence". The 23rd Government is approved that day and the members are sworn in.

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1988 include:

• 6 April – A 15-year-old Israeli girl is killed in the Palestinian village of Bayta in West Bank. First official announcements state that she had been stoned to death. A subsequent IDF investigation revealed that she had been accidentally shot by her group leader. Two Palestinian Arabs are killed in the incident.JoPS (68). Page 230. Cites New York Times 4/9.
• 7 December – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

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{{Main|Palestinian political violence#First Intifada (1987–1993)}}

The most prominent Palestinian Arab terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1988 include:

• 7 March – Mothers' Bus attack: A squad of three Palestinian Arab militants, members of the Fatah organization, infiltrated Israel from Egypt. The militants hijacked a bus full of women returning from work at the Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona and threatened to kill the passengers one by one if Israel would not release Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. After the militants executed one of the passengers, members of the elite civilian counter-terrorism unit Yamam broke into the bus, killing all three hijackers, but not managing to prevent another two Israeli passengers from being killed. See Mothers' Bus attack.
• 11 May – A car bomb near the Israeli Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus, kills three and injures 15. A caller claims that the Abu Nidal organization carried out the attack.JoPS (68). Page 241. Cites Washington Post 5/12.

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 1988 include:

• 2 January – Israeli helicopters and fighter jets attack Palestinian targets in South Lebanon killing at least 19, wounding 14.JoPS (67). Page 219. Cites Wall Street Journal, Washington Post 1/4.
• 11 January – The Israeli army declares the Gaza Strip a closed military zone and imposes curfews on Khan Yunis, Dayr al-Balah, Maghazi, Nusyrat and Burayj refugee camps.JoPS (67). Page 223. Cites Al-Fajr 1/17.
• 13 January – All refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are put under curfew.JoPS (67). Page 223. Cites Al-Fajr 1/17.
• 19 January – With 38 Palestinians killed since 9 December, Defense Minister Yitzhaq Rabin announces a new policy using "might, power and beating" to quell demonstrations. A month later a team of US physicians estimated that over 1,000 Palestinians had suffered broken bones and other injuries.JoPS (67). Page 238. Cites Washington Post 2/12. In the same period three Palestinians had been beaten to death by members of the Israeli armed forces.JoPS (67). Page 237. Cites New York Times 2/10.
• 14 February – A bomb kills three PLO officials in Limassol, Cyprus.JoPS (67). Page 239. Cites New York Times 2/15.
• 23 March – The IAF rockets Palestinian targets in South Lebanon killing or wounding fifteen.JoPS (68). Page 224. Cites New York Times 3/24. A second raid the following day kills or injures five.JoPS (68). Page 225. Cites New York Times 3/25.
• 30 March – The Israeli High Court upholds an Israeli army order banning the international media from the West Bank.JoPS (68). Page 227. Cites Christian Science Monitor 3/31.
• 12 April – Israeli army Deputy Chief of Staff, Ehud Barak, announces that army reserve duty will be extended from 40 to 62 days. A day earlier he had said that there were 4,800 Palestinian activists being held in Israeli prisons, 900 of them under administrative detention.JoPS (68). Page 231. Cites Christian Science Monitor (4)/13; Washington Post 4/12.
• 16 April – Abu Jihad is assassinated in his Tunis home, allegedly by an Israeli commando unit. His driver and two bodyguards are also killed. In demonstrations that follow in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at least fourteen Palestinian are killed by Israeli army gunfire.JopS (68). Page 233. Cites Washington Post 4/17, 4/18.
• 2 May – The Israeli government announces it will begin cutting water and electricity to towns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that do not pay their bills.JoPS (68). Pages 237, 238. Cites New York Times 5/3.
• 4 May – Operation Law and Order. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Israeli soldiers kill 40 Hizbullah fighters around the Lebanese village of Meidoun in a two-day offensive. Three Israeli soldiers are killed and 17 wounded.JoPS (68). Page 238. Cites Washington Post 5/5.
• 9 December – Operation Blue and Brown. A failed commando raid on a Palestinian base near Na'ameh, 10km South of Beirut, in which the commanding officer was killed.

• The founding of the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.
• The founding of the community settlement Givat Ela.
• The founding of the moshav Kmehin.

• 2 February – Eliyahu Asheri, Israeli civilian kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists (died 2006).
• 29 February – Nadav Ben Yehuda, mountaineer and SAR specialist
• 2 May – Beram Kayal, footballer
• 11 May – Eliad Cohen, producer, actor, model and entrepreneur
• 22 June – Omri Casspi, the first Israeli basketball player in the NBA.

• 18 August – Ernst Simon (born 1899), German-born Israeli Jewish educator, and religious philosopher.
• 27 October – Michael Reisser (born 1946), Israeli politician.
• 2 November – Menachem Savidor (born 1946), Russian (Ukraine)-born Israeli civil servant and politician.

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• 1988 in Israeli film
• 1988 in Israeli television
• 1988 in Israeli music
• 1988 in Israeli sport
• Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988
• Israel at the 1988 Summer Olympics

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