1978 in Israel

Incumbents

• Prime Minister of Israel – Menachem Begin
• President of Israel – Ephraim Katzir until 29 May, Yitzhak Navon
• Chief of General Staff - Mordechai Gur until 16 April Rafael Eitan
• Government of Israel - 18th Government of Israel

  Events

• 16 April – Rafael Eitan is appointed as the 11th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
• 19 April – The Israeli Knesset elects Yitzhak Navon as President of Israel by a vote of 86 in favour, with 23 members casting blank votes. There was no other candidate.
• 22 April – Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi".
• 29 May – Yitzhak Navon assumes office as the 5th president of the State of Israel.
• 17 September – The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt. The Accords lead directly to the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
• 27 October – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin win the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
• 10 December – Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

  Israeli–Palestinian conflict

• 11 March – Coastal Road Massacre: 11 Fatah members led by the 18-year-old female Dalal Mughrabi traveled from Lebanon to Israel, killed several tourists and hijack a bus on the coastal road near Haifa. After a lengthy chase and shootout, 37 Israelis were killed and 76 wounded.

• 14 March – Operation Litani: a large-scale invasion of IDF forces to South Lebanon aimed at expelling the PLO forces from the territory. The operation was successful for the Israeli Defense Forces, as PLO forces were eventually pushed north of the Litani river.

  Unknown dates

• The founding of the moshav Aniam.
• The founding of the West Bank city Ariel.
• The founding of the moshav Avnei Eitan.
• The founding of the kibbutz Ortal.
• The founding of the community settlement Sapir.

  Notable births

• 20 September – Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer.

  Notable deaths

• 1 February – Yizhar Harari, a Zionist activist and Israeli politician.
• 28 February – Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin Russian -born Orthodox rabbi, founded the Encyclopedia Talmudit.
• 23 March – Haim Ernst Wertheimer, German-born Israeli biochemist.
• 8 October – Eliyahu Sasson, Syrian-born Israeli politician and minister.
• 8 December – Golda Meir, Russian -born and American-raised Israeli politician. Fourth Prime Minister of Israel.