2005 in Israel - Events

Events

• March 31 – The Government of Israel officially recognizes the Bnei Menashe people of North-East India as one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, opening the door for thousands of people to immigrate to Israel.
• May 31 – Israeli Police announce that they have uncovered an Industrial espionage ring involving executives at several major Israeli corporations which used Trojan horse viruses to hack into rivals' systems.
• June 1 – Dan Halutz, the former Israeli Air Force commander, was appointed as the 18th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
• June 21 – A severe collision that takes place between a train and a truck leads to eight people dead and approximately 200 injured.
• July 11–21 – The 2005 Maccabiah Games are held.
• July 15 – The Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev (which includes the four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shivta) and the Biblical Tels of Tel Megiddo, Tel Hazor and Tel Be'er Sheva are designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.
• August 4 – Four Israeli Arabs are killed and twenty-two others are wounded by the 19-year-old IDF deserter, Eden Nathan-Zadah, when he opens fire on a crowded bus in the Arab town of Shfar'am in northern Israel in northern Israel. When he runs out of bullets, Natan-Zada is beaten to death by the crowd, as recorded on video. No group had taken responsibility for the terror attack and an official in the settler movement denounced it. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and several Israeli leaders condemn the attack and offer condolences to the families.
• August 7 – Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister of Israel, resigns his cabinet post as Finance Minister in protest against the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is appointed to succeed him.
• August 28 – Omri Sharon, Israeli politician and son of the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, is formally indicted, charged with felonies of political corruption and with perjury, following his involvement in a scandal relating to fundraising for his father's 1999 Likud leadership campaign.
• October 10 – Robert Aumann received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics along with Thomas Schelling for his work on conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.
• October 26 – During a key speech at the "World without Zionism" conference held in Teheran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quotes the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who called for the destruction of Israel, calling Israel a "disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map". an English idiom which means to "cause a place to stop existing", or to "obliterate totally", or "destroy completely".
• October 27 – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon calls for the expulsion of Iran from the United Nations after the Iranian President repeated Ruhollah Khomeini's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map".
• November 21 – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon resigns as head of the Likud party, and dissolved the Knesset to form a new centrist party, subsequently named Kadima ("Forward").
• December 18 – The Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is transferred to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem after suffering a minor stroke. After being treated, Sharon is released from the hospital two days later and is scheduled to undergo a routine Cardiac catheterization procedure on January 4 to seal a hole in his heart.