Israeli legislative election, 1988

Elections for the 12th Knesset

← 1984 1 November 1988 1992 →

Party Leader % Seats ± Likud Yitzhak Shamir 31.1% 40 -1 Alignment Shimon Peres 30.0% 39 -5 Shas Yitzhak Haim Peretz 4.7% 6 +2 Agudat Yisrael Moshe Ze'ev Feldman 4.5% 5 +3 Ratz Shulamit Aloni 4.3% 5 +2 Mafdal Avner Hai Shaki 3.9% 5 +1 Hadash Meir Wilner 3.7% 4 0 Tehiya Yuval Ne'eman 3.1% 3 Mapam Yair Tzaban 2.5% 3 Tzomet Rafael Eitan 2.0% 2 Moledet Rehavam Ze'evi 1.9% 2 New Shinui Amnon Rubinstein 1.7% 2 -1 Degel HaTorah Avraham Ravitz 1.5% 2 New Progressive List for Peace Mohammed Miari 1.5% 1 -1 Arab Democratic Party Abdulwahab Darawshe 1.2% 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Yitzhak Shamir Likud Yitzhak Shamir Likud

Elections for the 12th Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.

By July 1985 Israel's inflation, buttressed by complex index linking of salaries, had reached 480% per annum and was the highest in the world. Peres introduced emergency control of prices and cut government expenditure successfully bringing inflation under control. The currency (known as the Israeli lira until 1980) was replaced and renamed the Israeli new shekel.

The great famine of 1983–85 lead to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians from Northern Ethiopia to refugee camps in Northern Ethiopia and Sudan. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians were starving during that time. Among these victims, it is estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 were members of the Beta Israel community. In late 1984, the Sudanese government, following the intervention of the U.S, allowed the emigration of 7,200 Beta Israel refugees to Europe who immediately flew from there to Israel. There two immigration waves were: Operation Moses which took place between 20 November 1984 until January 4, 1985, during which 6,500 people emigrated to Israel. This operation was followed by the Operation Joshua (also referred to as "Operation Queen of Sheba") a few weeks later, which was conducted by the CIA, in which the 650 Beta Israel refugees remaining in Sudan were evacuated to Israel. The second operation was mainly carried out due to the intervention and international pressure of the U.S.

In June 1985, Israel withdrew most of its troops from Lebanon, leaving a residual Israeli force and an Israeli-supported militia in southern Lebanon as a "security zone" and buffer against attacks on its northern territory.

The continuing establishment of the Israeli settlements and continuing Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip led to the first Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in December 1987, which lasted until the Madrid Conference of 1991, despite Israeli attempts to suppress it. It was a partially spontaneous uprising, but by January 1988, it was already under the direction from the PLO headquarters in Tunis, which carried out ongoing terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians. The riots escalated daily throughout the territories and were especially severe in the Gaza Strip.