2015 in Israel

Early elections followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's dismissal of ministers Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid on December 2, 2014. The Knesset dissolved itself later that month and scheduled elections for March 17, 2015.[7] The campaign emphasized economic and social issues, particularly housing costs and inequality, while security concerns remained in the background despite the recent conflict in Gaza. INSS also described increasingly hostile campaign discourse, with social media amplifying racism, incitement, and verbal violence.[3]

The increase of the electoral threshold to 3.25 percent encouraged smaller parties to combine their lists. Most significantly, four Arab-majority parties united as the Joint List, headed by Ayman Odeh.[7]

The year's political chronology centered on the March Knesset election and the formation of Netanyahu's fourth government in May.[1][2] The July nuclear agreement with Iran, the Duma arson attack, Ethiopian-Israeli protests, and the Jerusalem Pride Parade murder became major public issues during the middle of the year.[8][6] From September onward, Russia's intervention in Syria and the escalating wave of Palestinian terrorist attacks increasingly dominated the security agenda, while the Knesset approved the 2016 state budget in November.[3][9]

Held on March 17, 2015, the election drew 4,254,738 voters from an electorate of 5,881,696, producing official turnout of 72.3 percent.[1] Likud, led by Netanyahu, won 30 seats with 23.4 percent of the vote, overcoming final pre-election polls that had placed it behind the Zionist Union.[10][1] The center-left Zionist Union, an alliance of Labor and Hatnuah led by Isaac Herzog, won 24 seats and 18.7 percent, while the Joint List placed third with 13 seats and 10.6 percent.[1]

The remaining seats went to Yesh Atid with 11, Kulanu with 10, the Jewish Home with 8, Shas with 7, Yisrael Beitenu and United Torah Judaism with 6 each, and Meretz with 5.[1] The right-wing and ultra-Orthodox bloc of Likud, the Jewish Home, Yisrael Beitenu, Shas, and United Torah Judaism held 57 seats, four fewer than in the previous Knesset.[11] The election produced a record 28 women members and 13 Israeli Arab members. More than one-third of the incoming members had not served previously, and the ten represented parties constituted the lowest number since 1992, an outcome attributed to the higher threshold.[7]

Turnout was 67.1 percent in Jerusalem, 65.3 percent in Tel Aviv–Yafo, and 62.2 percent in Haifa. Likud received the largest share of Jerusalem's vote, at 24.2 percent.[1]

Although the center-left, center, and Arab parties held 63 seats in aggregate, the Joint List had announced that it would not join a governing coalition. Without its 13 seats, the left and center held only 50, giving Netanyahu a clearer route to another term.[11] Netanyahu announced that he had formed a government on May 6, and the Knesset approved it on May 14 by 61 votes to 59.[10][7]

Israel's 34th government comprised Likud, Kulanu, the Jewish Home, Shas, and United Torah Judaism and held exactly 61 of the Knesset's 120 seats.[7] Avigdor Liberman withdrew Yisrael Beitenu from negotiations 48 hours before the deadline after objecting to concessions made to the ultra-Orthodox parties. Netanyahu then obtained the minimum majority by accepting Jewish Home demands that included appointing Ayelet Shaked as justice minister.[12] Naftali Bennett became education minister and Uri Ariel agriculture minister, while Moshe Kahlon served as finance minister, Moshe Ya'alon as defense minister, and Yuval Steinitz as minister of national infrastructure, energy, and water.[2][13]

Kulanu had campaigned on socioeconomic reform and cost-of-living concerns. The coalition's differing priorities and one-seat margin made it vulnerable to internal disputes, while giving each member substantial leverage.[12][10] Coalition agreements rolled back legislation requiring ultra-Orthodox Israelis to perform military or comparable national service, removed imprisonment as a penalty for noncompliance, and restored welfare benefits for those remaining in religious study. Former finance minister Yair Lapid estimated that the restored benefits would cost more than two billion shekels.[12]

The Knesset approved the 2016 state budget on November 19. Contemporary assessments also identified bureaucratic bottlenecks, delayed senior appointments, cabinet disputes, and leaks as possible impediments to policy implementation.[3][9]

On March 3, fourteen days before the election, Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress to oppose the prospective nuclear agreement with Iran.[14] The invitation came from House Speaker John Boehner rather than President Barack Obama. Critics in the United States characterized the address as interference by a foreign leader in American politics, and the dispute exposed a sharp disagreement between Jerusalem and Washington.[15] Netanyahu had accepted the invitation without first consulting the White House, and the episode brought relations with the Obama administration to what one reference source described as their nadir.[16]

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1—the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany—announced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The agreement required Iran to reduce its low-enriched uranium stockpile by 98 percent and shut down two-thirds of the centrifuges at Natanz.[8] Netanyahu called the agreement a "historic mistake" and said Israel would not be bound by it.[4]

In August, Netanyahu continued his campaign against the agreement, arguing that it would allow Iran to retain and eventually expand nuclear infrastructure. Obama offered a contrary assessment, saying the agreement blocked every potential path to a nuclear weapon.[17] Some former Israeli security officials saw positive elements in the agreement and warned that continued opposition could harm U.S.–Israel relations.[4] INSS assessed that the agreement could constrain Iran's nuclear program and postpone the nuclear threat for at least 10–15 years, while warning that sanctions relief could provide resources for Hezbollah and other Iranian allies and that the gradual expiration of restrictions created longer-term concerns.[3]

In January, an Israeli helicopter strike in Syria killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps general traveling with them. Hezbollah retaliatory fire from Lebanon killed two Israeli soldiers, while Israeli return fire inadvertently killed a Spanish United Nations peacekeeper.[4]

Russia's military intervention in Syria began in late September and included aircraft, air-defense and command systems, and cruise missiles. Russia supported a coalition involving Iran, Hezbollah, and forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad.[3] Israel and Russia established military coordination intended to reduce the risk of aerial friction. Israel was particularly concerned about Iranian and Hezbollah entrenchment near the Golan Heights and about possible restrictions on its freedom of action.[3]

Palestinian violence escalated beginning in September, particularly around Jerusalem and the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa compound, before spreading during the autumn to the West Bank—known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria—the Gaza border area, and Israeli population centers inside the Green Line.[3] A Jerusalem Center chronology identifies Alexander Levlovich, 64, who died after stones struck his car and caused a crash in mid-September, as the first fatality of the new phase.[18] Altercations at the Temple Mount preceded the wider unrest. Palestinian objections focused on Jewish visits during the high-holiday period and Israeli security measures, while Israeli authorities temporarily restricted Muslim access. Netanyahu publicly supported the existing arrangement under which Muslims pray at the site and non-Muslims may visit.[19]

Stabbings and car-ramming attacks by individuals became prominent features of the violence. The Shin Bet described many perpetrators as young, unaffiliated "lone-wolf" attackers.[5] INSS cautioned against treating the wave as purely religious, identifying an overlap of national, social, economic, generational, and religious factors and noting that most Palestinians in Jerusalem did not participate.[3]

On October 1, Eitam and Naama Henkin were fatally shot while traveling with their children in the West Bank. The children were physically unharmed but treated for shock.[20] On October 3, Aharon Banita-Bennett, 22, and Nehemia Lavi, 41, were stabbed to death near Lions' Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Banita-Bennett's wife and two-year-old child were wounded, while Lavi was killed after attempting to help the family.[18]

On October 13, two Palestinian assailants attacked a Jerusalem bus with a gun and knife, killing Chaim Haviv and Alon Govberg. Richard Lakin died from his wounds on October 27, bringing the attack's death toll to three. A separate car-ramming and axe attack in Jerusalem that day killed one person and injured several others.[21]

ICT counted 609 terrorist attacks during October, including 483 involving firebombs. Its report recorded 11 people killed—10 Israelis and one foreign national—and 80 injured.[20] Shin Bet data for the full year counted 28 deaths from terrorist attacks: 22 Israeli civilians, three security personnel, two foreign nationals, and one Palestinian. The agency recorded 239 injured, compared with 63 in 2014, and reported that 24 deaths and 174 injuries occurred during the final three months.[5]

The Shin Bet recorded 1,719 attacks in Judea and Samaria, down from 1,793 in 2014, but found that the attacks had become more severe and lethal. Jerusalem experienced 635 attacks, compared with 346 in 2014.[5] Attacks originating in the Gaza Strip fell from 121 in 2014, excluding combat during Operation Protective Edge, to 44 in 2015, and caused no casualties. The Shin Bet attributed most rocket fire to dissident Salafi groups, while Ynet described 2015 as the quietest year from Gaza since the disengagement.[5][22] More than 3,100 terror suspects were arrested through Shin Bet, IDF, and police activity; 1,933 indictments followed, and 239 major attack plots were foiled.[5]

The Shin Bet recorded 16 terrorist attacks by Jewish perpetrators in 2015, the same number as in 2014, but reported that their severity and casualty toll had increased.[22] The most prominent was the July 31 firebombing of the Dawabshe family home in Duma. Masked assailants threw firebombs into the home while the family slept, and hate graffiti was found near the scene. Infant Ali Dawabshe died at the scene; his parents, Saad and Riham, later died in hospital, while their four-year-old son Ahmad survived. Israel's political leadership condemned the attack as Jewish terrorism.[6]

Attacks on Christian sites were also included in the year's Jewish-terrorism statistics. On June 18, arsonists burned a large section of the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha and left anti-Christian graffiti. Two individuals were indicted in connection with the attack.[23] Ynet also listed arson incidents at Dormition Abbey among the year's attacks on religious sites.[22]

Authorities filed 90 indictments against Jewish-terror suspects, placed four activists in administrative detention, and issued 45 administrative restraining orders during the year.[22]

During the summer Jerusalem Pride Parade, Yishai Shlissel—an ultra-Orthodox man previously convicted of stabbing parade participants—attacked marchers shortly after his release from prison. Sixteen-year-old Shira Banki was killed and five other people were wounded. A review committee appointed by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan determined that seven senior police officers should be removed from their positions, and the incident was characterized as a major security failure.[6]

A major social flashpoint emerged after video circulated showing a police officer beating Damas Pakada, an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier in uniform. The footage triggered protests by Ethiopian Israelis and their supporters.[6] An initial demonstration near Tel Aviv's Azrieli Towers blocked the Ayalon Highway, while a later gathering in Rabin Square involved violence, property damage, and arrests.

Protesters alleged racism, excessive police force, and a broader failure to integrate Ethiopian immigrants fully into Israeli society. The officer shown in the video was dismissed. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein initially closed the case while leaving open the possibility that the decision could be reconsidered.[6]

Israel's economy was described as strong and stable but highly unequal, with housing costs and inequality remaining persistent challenges for social cohesion.[3] The National Insurance Institute reported GDP growth of 2.5 percent, while the population reached 8,463,400 at year's end and grew by 2.0 percent during the year.[24][25] Unemployment stood at 5.3 percent.[26]

Private consumption grew by 4.5 percent, compared with 3.7 percent in 2014. Investment in economic branches fell by 3.3 percent, continuing the previous year's decline, while housing investment grew by 2.1 percent. Exports excluding diamonds and startups fell approximately 1.3 percent after rising by 4.9 percent in 2014, with the slowdown attributed primarily to weaker global activity.[9]

High-technology investment was a bright spot. Israeli Venture Capital Research Center figures recorded $4.43 billion invested in Israeli high-tech companies, 30 percent more than in 2014, across 708 deals averaging $6.3 million each.[27]

The cabinet approved a joint 2015–2016 state budget on August 6, with 20 ministers in favor and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon abstaining. The 2015 budget totaled NIS 329.5 billion and the 2016 budget NIS 343.3 billion, with a deficit target of 2.9 percent of GDP for each year. The provisions included an additional NIS 4.6 billion for health and NIS 1.3 billion for welfare.[28]

In August, the cabinet approved a framework for developing Israel's offshore natural-gas resources after a prolonged regulatory dispute. Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabai opposed the plan, while three ministers did not participate because of declared conflicts of interest. Netanyahu called the decision historic and said the resulting revenue would support education, health, welfare, and other national needs.[29]

On November 17, the government declared the Northern Islamic Movement an illegal organization, alleging that it undermined the state and incited violence. Security services closed affiliated offices and froze assets, and one person had been arrested specifically for membership in the movement by year's end. Knesset Member Ahmed Tibi and other Arab Israeli politicians described the decision as politically motivated.[23]

In April, a report of a possible kidnapping prompted a large police search for Niv Asraf. He was found safe roughly eight hours later in a wadi near Kiryat Arba with food and a sleeping bag. Investigators determined that the disappearance had been staged, and indictments filed about two months later said Asraf had sought to evade illegal-gambling debts.[6]

In football, Maccabi Tel Aviv qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in 11 years. Captain Eran Zahavi scored decisive qualifying goals, and the club had already completed a domestic treble by winning the league championship, State Cup, and Toto Cup.[6]

By the end of 2015, Netanyahu's government had secured passage of the 2016 budget but remained dependent on a one-seat parliamentary majority, preserving the high leverage of every coalition member.[12][9] Security statistics showed that the final quarter accounted for 24 of the year's 28 terrorism-related deaths and 174 of the 239 injuries, making the autumn escalation the year's principal immediate security legacy.[5] At the same time, the lower level of attacks originating in Gaza contrasted with the intensification of violence in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.[5]

Several developments attracted competing interpretations. Netanyahu's address to Congress was criticized as interference in American politics and a breach of diplomatic protocol, while supporters viewed it as a necessary warning about the proposed Iran agreement. The episode nevertheless exposed unusually sharp disagreement between the Israeli and U.S. governments.[15][16]

Sources applied different labels and starting points to the late-year Palestinian violence, including "stabbing intifada," "Stealth Intifada," and a wave of individualized terrorism. These terms reflected differing assessments of organization, motivation, and chronology rather than disagreement that a major escalation occurred.[18][21] The Northern Islamic Movement ban was similarly contested: the government alleged incitement and activity against the state, while Arab Israeli political figures characterized the measure as politically motivated.[23]