Yearbook 2015
 Israel. Ahead of the extra-ordinary parliamentary
elections on March 17, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
announced that a two-state solution would not be a reality
as long as he remained in power. It was last year that
Netanyahu disbanded Parliament and announced that a new
election would be held. According to
COUNTRYAAH, the electoral movement was largely
about security policy but also about economic and social
issues.
In March, Netanyahu traveled to the United States to
invite Republicans to talk about "the threat from Iran". US
President Barack Obama responded to the visit, which had not
been announced to the White House, by refusing to meet
Netanyahu, who was accused at home of damaging Israel-US
relations. During the election campaign, Netanyahu also
received criticism from government teams for using state
funds for private purposes.
Despite the criticism, Netanyahu won an unexpectedly
strong victory in the parliamentary elections and, after
seven weeks of negotiations, was able to form government
with the support of the newly formed center-right party
Kulanu and the resident-friendly right-wing party Beit
Yehudi (Jewish home), which profiled itself as strong
opponents of a two-state solution. The government also
included the two ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and the United
Torah Party. Together, the five government parties got 61 of
Knesset's 120 seats, 30 of which went to the Prime
Minister's right Likud. Ahead of the election, the two
largest opposition parties (the Labor Party and Hatnua) had
joined forces in the left-liberal alliance of the Zionist
Union, which ended up in second place with 24 seats.
At the beginning of the year, military confrontations
occurred at the border with Lebanon between the Israeli
military and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, accused of
planning attacks against Israel. In January, several
high-ranking leaders in the movement were killed, who
responded by attacking Israeli military vehicles.
In January, a Palestinian from Hebron was sentenced to
life imprisonment for last summer's assassination of three
Israeli youths, an event that became the starting point for
the war in Gaza that lasted for just over two months and
where about 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis died. Shortly
after Palestine became an official member of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) in January, the court
opened its first investigation into possible war crimes
committed by Israel during last summer's Gaza war.
Despite harsh criticism and condemnations from the
outside world, during the year, clear signs were given for
the construction of several new settlements on Palestinian
land, including in East Jerusalem. In February, a legal
process was completed against a settlement on the West Bank
where Israeli settlers were accused of having built illegal
housing on private Palestinian land.
In May, several demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv
against racism and discrimination, which gathered thousands
of Israelis of mainly Ethiopian origin. The demonstration
was held in connection with the publication of a video
showing how an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin is being
abused by two police officers. When police stormed the
demonstration, at least 50 people were injured.
At the end of July, several people were stabbed by an
ultra-Orthodox Jew who attacked a Pride Parade in Jerusalem.
The event gave rise to demonstrations in major cities such
as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa. Demonstrations were also
held to draw attention to an Israeli terrorist attack in the
Palestinian village of Duma on the West Bank, where a small
child was killed in a massacre set on fire by militant
settlers. The incident was described as a revenge attack
because the suspected settlers had written "long live the
Messiah" and "revenge" in Hebrew on the house walls.
During the autumn, the conflict between Israelis and
Palestinians around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
intensified. Violent clashes also occurred in the West
Bank's largest city Hebron. During the fall, fatalities and
knife attacks occurred almost every day in central Hebron,
where a few hundred Israeli settlers lived surrounded by
250,000 Palestinians.
In November, the EU adopted guidelines to originate goods
from Israeli settlements. The decision was condemned by the
Israeli government, which canceled several meetings with the
EU. The Israeli Peace Now movement welcomed the decision and
said it was an important support for the democratic forces
in Israel.
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