2020 in Israel

By the time 2020 began, Israel had already endured two inconclusive general elections in 2019, each failing to produce a governing majority.[1] The principal fault line ran between the Likud-led right-religious bloc, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz.[1] Neither bloc could assemble the 61-seat majority required to form a government, leaving Israel in a state of rolling political paralysis and raising the prospect of yet another ballot.[1]

On January 28, 2020, President Donald Trump released a U.S. peace proposal for Israel and the Palestinians.[10] The proposal largely favored Israeli positions and contemplated possible American recognition of Israeli annexation of portions of the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[10] The proposal landed against an already volatile domestic backdrop in which Netanyahu was facing imminent criminal proceedings.[11]

Israel held its third national election in less than a year on March 2, 2020.[8] Registered voter turnout reached 71.52%, with Arab voter participation at 65%; twenty-nine parties appeared on the ballot and eight cleared the 3.25% electoral threshold to win seats in the 120-member Knesset.[1] Likud finished first with 36 seats and 29.48% of the vote, while Blue and White won 33 seats with 26.59%.[11] The Joint List took 15 seats, Shas 9, United Torah Judaism 7, Labor-Gesher-Meretz 7, Yisrael Beiteinu 7, and Yamina 6.[1]

The election once again did not produce a governing majority. Netanyahu's right-religious bloc held 58 seats, three short of the 61 needed, while Benny Gantz assembled support from 62 members, including parties that would not formally join a coalition.[1] The 23rd Knesset was sworn in on March 16, with lawmakers taking the oath in groups of three because of coronavirus precautions.[11] On the same day, President Reuven Rivlin asked Gantz to attempt to form a government and urged political leaders to compromise on a unity arrangement.[1][11]

The election itself was conducted under unusual conditions. At the time of the vote, Israel had only 10 confirmed coronavirus cases and had imposed entry restrictions on travelers from several Asian and European countries.[12] Sixteen specially equipped polling stations served 5,630 voters under home quarantine; those voters wore masks and gloves and were instructed to remain two meters apart.[12] Observers considered the election free and fair and found only minimal irregularities that did not affect the outcome.[8]

The prolonged coalition stalemate unfolded in parallel with the accelerating COVID-19 crisis, and both the pandemic and President Rivlin's sustained pressure contributed to a breakthrough.[13] On April 20, 2020, Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz signed an agreement to form a "national emergency government" and avert a fourth election.[11] Netanyahu was to remain prime minister for 18 months; Gantz became prime-minister-designate and deputy prime minister and also assumed the defense portfolio, while Gabi Ashkenazi was assigned the foreign-minister post.[11]

The agreement also contained a provision allowing Israel to consider legislating the application of sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria beginning July 1, subject to the support of the Trump administration.[11] A separate clause addressed the possibility that the Supreme Court might rule Netanyahu ineligible to serve as prime minister given his pending indictment, stipulating that such a ruling would trigger new elections.[11] The national unity government was formally sworn in on May 17, 2020, ending more than a year of political stalemate.[14]

Israel's first COVID-19 case was identified on February 27, 2020.[5] The government rapidly imposed restrictions on economic activity, mass events, the education system, and personal movement, relying on orders under the People's Health Ordinance and emergency regulations.[9] The country experienced a first wave in March–May, a relative easing during the summer, and a severe second wave beginning in September–October.[15] Hospitals approached their capacity limits during the second wave. Israel underwent at least three national lockdowns by year-end, infections approached 10,000 new cases per day at their peak, and more than 3,000 Israelis died from the disease by the close of the year.[12]

On March 16, emergency regulations authorized the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and police to use mobile-phone tracking to identify contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients and enforce quarantine.[8] INSS described the restrictions imposed during the pandemic as unprecedented, including in comparison with some Israeli wars.[9] The Supreme Court issued an interim injunction on March 19, then ruled definitively on April 26 in HCJ 2109/20, Ben-Meir v. The Prime Minister, that continued use of privacy-infringing tracking powers required proper legislative authorization.[8][9] The Knesset responded by passing a law on July 21 permitting a limited version of the tracking for 21-day renewable periods under specified infection conditions.[8]

The pandemic also exposed acute demographic disparities. Jerusalem was Israel's locality with the largest cumulative number of detected infections through November 17, 2020, recording 45,780 infected residents and topping the country's morbidity charts from the beginning of March.[15] The Arab and Haredi communities in Jerusalem were affected particularly strongly because of population density, large households, and patterns of religious and social gathering.[15] In East Jerusalem, the number of Arab job-seekers rose from 5,532 in February to 38,352 by April.[15] During the first wave, almost 75% of Jerusalem's coronavirus patients lived in Haredi neighborhoods; in mid-May, 22% of verified cases came from Haredi areas and another 26% from areas with high Haredi concentrations.[15]

On March 4, 2020, Johny Majlaton, a 38-year-old East Jerusalem bus driver, was hospitalized with COVID-19 at Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Tiberias, identified as Israel's 16th patient and the first whose condition was classified as serious; he was also the first Israeli COVID-19 patient to recover, being released by the end of March.[15]

Local responses supplemented the national effort. Jerusalem's municipal government organized assistance and communication in multiple languages.[15] In August, the national "People of Valor" pilot program formalized a locally led approach, with a budget of 1.5 million shekels.[15] In East Jerusalem, approximately 2,000 local volunteers assisted elderly and isolated residents, while the Jerusalem Assembly for the Fight against Corona united approximately 82 Palestinian organizations and functioned as an unofficial intermediary between residents and Israeli authorities.[15]

Public opinion surveys conducted during the pandemic's early phase showed substantial Israeli support for assertive government measures. A March 2020 Tel Aviv University Peace Index survey found that most Israelis believed the state had handled the crisis effectively and backed strong restrictions, including limits on leaving home, closure of workplaces and courts, and digital tracking by the security services.[16] The same survey found divided public trust in Netanyahu and Gantz individually, while most respondents preferred a national unity government.[16]

By the end of 2020, Israel had recorded 48.6 thousand deaths from all causes, with an estimated excess mortality of approximately 1,700 deaths relative to the 2016–2019 average — most concentrated among older people.[17] Jerusalem recorded the largest number of coronavirus deaths of any Israeli city, reaching 698 by February 2, 2021.[17]

A major diplomatic development of 2020 was the Abraham Accords process, through which four Arab countries began establishing or reestablishing ties with Israel through instruments that differed in form and timing.[3] INSS assessed the agreements as breaking with a decades-old paradigm that had treated resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a prerequisite for Arab-state normalization with Israel.[3]

On August 13, 2020, the United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates announced that Israel and the UAE had agreed to full normalization of relations.[18] An August 31 joint statement said that the accord had led Israel to suspend plans to extend sovereignty, and that the UAE had abolished its 40-year boycott law, enabling direct trade with Israel.[19] The two countries also opened discussions on investment, finance, health, civil aviation, tourism, culture, and broader cooperation.[19]

On September 11, the United States announced that Bahrain had agreed to establish diplomatic relations with Israel.[18] On September 15, President Trump hosted a White House signing ceremony at which Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain formalized their agreements.[18][20] The UAE-Israel instrument was a formal treaty — the Treaty of Peace, Diplomatic Relations and Full Normalization — that established peace, diplomatic relations, and full normalization, provided for the exchange of resident ambassadors, and called for cooperation in security, finance, investment, civil aviation, health, science, technology, tourism, agriculture, water, energy, education, telecommunications, and legal matters.[20] The treaty also committed both countries to continued efforts toward a just, comprehensive, realistic, and enduring negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, invoked Abraham as a common ancestor of Arab and Jewish peoples, and pledged cooperation against terrorism and extremism.[21] The Bahrain-Israel document, signed at the same ceremony, was a declaration of peace, cooperation, and constructive diplomatic and friendly relations — a non-binding declaration of intent rather than a formal treaty.[22]

Sudan announced normalization in October 2020. The process was associated with Sudan's search for economic relief and the United States' decision to remove Sudan from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list, together with an accompanying World Bank aid package.[3] Sudan signed a one-page Abraham Accords Declaration on October 23, 2020, although Israel was not named as a party to that document; a bilateral declaration was signed in Khartoum on January 6, 2021.[3][23]

Morocco joined the process in December 2020. A joint declaration signed on December 22 by Morocco, the United States, and Israel reestablished official diplomatic relations, provided for direct flights and economic cooperation in trade, finance, investment, technology, innovation, tourism, water, agriculture, security, energy, and telecommunications, and was linked to American and Israeli recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.[23][4] Morocco framed the move as a resumption of full diplomatic, peaceful, and friendly relations rather than employing the term "normalization."[3]

INSS described the UAE agreement as the strongest and fastest-moving of the four 2020 normalization processes, noting that implementation varied substantially among the four countries and that all four agreements remained vulnerable to shocks from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[3] The accords were also assessed as opening a possible path for additional Arab and Muslim countries to follow.[3]

Despite the political turbulence and pandemic, 2020 produced a significant reduction in Israeli casualties from terrorism. In December, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi stated that 2020 registered the lowest number of Israelis killed by terrorism in Israel's history.[7] The year still included rocket and mortar fire from Gaza, incendiary balloons, vehicular attacks, small-arms attacks, and knife attacks; the U.S. State Department's terrorism report identified one fatality in Israel from a terrorist attack during the year.[7]

According to the IDF, 2020 saw 190 instances of rocket fire from Gaza toward Israeli territory; 90 rockets fell in uninhabited areas, while the IDF reported intercepting 93% of rockets fired toward populated areas.[8] The IDF also reported foiling 38 infiltration attempts from Gaza and destroying one terror tunnel into Israel.[8]

The Israeli Security Agency reported foiling 423 significant terrorist attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem during 2020: 281 shootings, 78 stabbings, 10 ramming attacks, 58 bomb attacks, and five planned kidnappings.[8] The figure represented a decline from 563 thwarted attacks in 2019 and 581 in 2018, although it was slightly higher than the 418 recorded in 2017.[8]

In October 2020, the United States and Israel signed agreements removing restrictions on three binational foundations — the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, the Binational Science Foundation, and the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund — from funding projects in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.[10]

Israel experienced sustained political protests throughout 2020, with demonstrations focused largely on the government and on Prime Minister Netanyahu personally.[8] Anti-government rallies grew during the summer and continued for nearly four months.[12] At one Jerusalem protest, police used water cannons and mounted officers attempted to push demonstrators off light-rail tracks; demonstrations drew thousands of participants and included some early episodes of violence.[12]

COVID-19 regulations periodically limited demonstrations by restricting the distance protesters could travel from their homes and capping group sizes.[8] On October 3, police arrested 35 protesters in Tel Aviv; protest groups alleged that many of the arrests were arbitrary.[8]

Netanyahu's criminal trial began in Jerusalem District Court on May 24, 2020, with charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.[8] The coalition agreement's provisions concerning the possibility that the Supreme Court could disqualify Netanyahu from serving as prime minister — and the stipulation that such a ruling would trigger new elections — meant that the trial proceedings intersected directly with the government's political stability throughout the year.[11]

In October 2020, the Government of Israel approved the immigration of 2,000 members of Ethiopia's Jewish community.[24] Operation Zur Israel was launched to reunite Ethiopian families after more than a decade of separation — in many cases after decades of waiting.[24] On December 3, 316 Ethiopian immigrants landed at Ben Gurion Airport, with another 100 scheduled to arrive the following day.[24]

The operation was coordinated by the Jewish Agency and multiple Israeli government ministries, providing support covering quarantine, absorption, Hebrew-language instruction, employment assistance, and education.[24] The first phase was completed in early 2021; across nine flights, it facilitated the Aliyah of approximately 2,150 Ethiopian immigrants, including 70 babies, 219 children, 674 young adults, and 35 older adults.[25]

Israel's GDP contracted by 2.6% in 2020, the country's first year of negative economic growth in a long time.[5] The Finance Ministry attributed Israel's comparatively moderate decline relative to many peer countries to its diversified economic structure, a strong high-tech sector, a current-account surplus, favorable pre-pandemic conditions, and rapid government and Bank of Israel support.[5]

Broad emergency economic assistance and reduced state revenues produced a government deficit of approximately 11.6% of GDP in 2020, compared with 3.7% in 2019; the deficit reached roughly NIS 160 billion by year-end.[5] Government fundraising needs reached approximately NIS 265 billion, and public debt rose about 20%, from NIS 823.2 billion in 2019 to NIS 983.9 billion in 2020.[5]

The Bank of Israel responded with a package of monetary interventions: it reduced its policy interest rate from 0.25% to 0.1%, launched an NIS 50 billion government-bond purchase program in March, expanded it by NIS 35 billion in October, and introduced an NIS 15 billion corporate-bond purchase program.[5] By the end of 2020, the Bank had purchased NIS 46.4 billion in government bonds.[5]

Israel's national GDP in 2020 was listed at 1,308,017 million NIS according to the Jewish Virtual Library's compilation of official statistical data.[26]

Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the population at 9.291 million residents on December 31, 2020, comprising 6.870 million Jews, 1.956 million Arabs, and 456,000 others.[6] The Jewish share of the population was approximately 73.9%.[27] The population grew by approximately 151,000 people, or 1.7%, during the year; 84% of that increase came from natural growth and 16% from the net international migration balance.[6]

Approximately 176,000 infants were born in Israel during 2020: 73.8% to Jewish mothers, 23.4% to Arab mothers, and 2.8% to mothers classified as Others.[6] Immigration was significantly dampened by the pandemic. Approximately 20,000 new immigrants arrived, compared with 34,000 in 2019; during January–October 2020, immigration was down 42.6% from the corresponding period in 2019, a decline the CBS linked directly to the pandemic and to the closure of Israel's air borders.[6]

Jerusalem remained Israel's largest city by a wide margin, with approximately 952,000 residents at year-end and a population growth rate of 1.7%, matching the national average.[28] Tel Aviv had approximately 466,000 residents at the same date.[28]

The pandemic left a visible mark on Israel's publishing landscape. The National Library of Israel reported that total publishing figures declined by about 2,000 books compared with 2019.[29] Nonfiction was particularly hard-hit, with Jewish-studies books falling by 33%, while poetry books outnumbered original prose books for the first time on record.[29] Approximately 70 children's books and prose and poetry works addressing COVID-19 were published during the year.[29] Against that backdrop, electronic-book publishing surged by 73%, reflecting the shift in Israeli reading habits forced by lockdowns and the closure of public spaces.[29]

The unity government that Netanyahu and Gantz had assembled at such political cost collapsed before the year was out. The coalition failed to agree on a state budget, and on December 23, 2020, the Knesset dissolved automatically under Israeli law.[2] A Knesset vote on December 21 to delay the automatic election mechanism had already been defeated, setting March 23, 2021, as the next election date.[30]

The dissolution set the stage for Israel's fourth general election within approximately two years, again against the backdrop of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial.[31]

Israel's pandemic response generated legal and political debate over executive authority, parliamentary oversight, movement, and privacy. Civil-rights litigants challenged Shin Bet mobile-phone tracking, and the Supreme Court ultimately required legislation for its continued use.[9] INSS described the restrictions as unprecedented, including in comparison with some Israeli wars, and warned that prolonged emergency practices could normalize restrictions on personal rights and weaken democratic checks and balances.[9]

The Abraham Accords generated separate interpretive disputes. The Jerusalem Center for Foreign and Security Affairs observes that the UAE and Bahrain had not previously been in a state of war or armed conflict with Israel, making the characterization of the agreements as "peace" documents symbolically and legally contestable.[22] The August 31 joint statement linked the UAE accord to Israel's suspension of sovereignty plans, while the September 15 treaty itself did not state that annexation had been permanently abandoned.[19][20] Netanyahu described the plan as suspended rather than permanently relinquished.[12]

The coalition agreement also contained provisions concerning possible application of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the consequences of a judicial ruling that Netanyahu was ineligible to serve as prime minister.[11] Statistics on rocket interceptions and thwarted terrorist attacks were presented in the cited State Department report as figures supplied by the IDF and Israeli Security Agency, rather than as independently generated State Department counts.[8][8]