1957 in Israel

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Events in the year 1957 in Israel.

Incumbents

• Prime Minister of Israel – David Ben-Gurion (Mapai)
• President of Israel – Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
• Chief of General Staff - Moshe Dayan
• Government of Israel - 7th Government of Israel

Events

• 22 January – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on 29 October 1956).
• 4 March – Israel Kastner is killed outside his house by Ze'ev Eckstein (who pulled the trigger), Dan Shemer and Yosef Menkes. All three were former members of the pre-state right-wing underground Jewish militant group Lehi. Kastner dies of his injuries twelve days later.
• July – The 1957 Maccabiah Games are held.
• 28 October – In the 1957 Israeli presidential election, the Knesset re-elects Yitzhak Ben-Zvi as President of Israel with 76 votes. There is no other candidate.
• 29 October – Moshe Dwek, a 26-year-old Yemenite-Israeli mental patient throws a hand grenade in the Knesset. The grenade blast causes severe injuries to the Minister of Religious Affairs Haim-Moshe Shapira, and lightly wounds the prime minister David Ben-Gurion, Foreign Minister Golda Meir and the Minister of Transport Moshe Carmel.

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 1957 include:

• 7 March - Israeli army withdraws from the Gaza Strip.

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

Main articles: Palestinian political violence#Partition of Palestine to establishment of PLO (1947–1964) and List of attacks against Israeli civilians before 1967

The most prominent Palestinian fedayeen terror attacks committed against Israelis during 1957 include:

• 18 February – Two Israeli civilians are killed in the kibbutz Nir Yitzhak by landmines set by Palestinian Arab militants who infiltrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
• 8 March - Armed Palestinian Arab militants, who infiltrated into Israel, kill a shepherd from kibbutz Beit Guvrin in a field near the kibbutz.
• 16 April - Armed Palestinian Arab militants, who infiltrated into Israel, killed two guards at Kibbutz Mesilot.
• 20 May - Armed Palestinian Arab militant opened fire on a truck in the Arava region, killing a worker.
• 29 May - A tractor driver was killed and two others wounded, when the vehicle struck a landmine, next to kibbutz Kissufim.
• 23 June - Israelis were wounded by landmines, close to the Gaza Strip.
• 23 August - Two guards of the Israeli Mekorot water company were killed near Kibbutz Beit Govrin.
• 21 December - A member of kibbutz Gadot was killed in the Kibbutz fields.

Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets

The most prominent Israeli military counter-terrorism operations (military campaigns and military operations) carried out against Palestinian militants during 1957 include:

Unknown dates

• The founding of the kibbutz Beit Nir.
• The founding of the kibbutz Or HaNer.

Notable births

• 20 January – Moshe Kaplinsky, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
• 26 February – Tzachi Hanegbi, Israeli politician.
• 24 April – Uri Malmilian, Israeli football player and manager.
• 19 November – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer, actress and international recording artist (died 2000).
• 24 December – Danny Robas, Israeli singer.

Notable deaths

• 15 March – Israel Kastner (born 1906), Hungarian-born Israeli journalist and lawyer who became known for helping Jews escape Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust.
• 13 May – Michael Fekete (born 1886), Austro-Hungarian (Vojvodina)-born Israeli mathematician.
• 16 June – Haim Ariav (born 1895), Russian-born Israeli politician.
• 28 July – Isaac Heinemann (born 1876), German-born Israeli scholar and professor of classical literature

See also

• 1957 in Israeli music
• 1957 in Israeli sport