* Markus Weimer, The Peace Dividend: Analysis of a Decade of Angolan Indicators, 2002 – 2012

* 2012 – The Independent State of Azawad is declared.

* 1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer ( d. 2012 )

* 1983 – Anthony Sedlak, Canadian chef ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.

* 1916 – Dom Mintoff, Maltese politician and journalist, 8th Prime Minister of Malta ( d. 2012 )

* 1935 – Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal ( d. 2012 )

* 1942 – Byard Lancaster, American saxophonist ( d. 2012 )

* 1945 – Aleksandr Gorelik, Russian figure skater ( d. 2012 )

* 1963 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer ( d. 2012 )

* 1914 – Big Walter Price, American singer-songwriter and pianist ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – Ekrem Bora, Turkish actor ( b. 1934 )

* 2012 – Lionel Bowen, Australian politician ( b. 1922 )

* 2012 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian footballer ( b. 1947 )

* 2012 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican politician, President of Mexico ( b. 1934 )

* 2012 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician ( b. 1898 )

* 2012 – Jamaa Fanaka, American director, producer, and screenwriter ( b. 1942 )

* 2012 – Jerry Lynch, American baseball player ( b. 1930 )

* 2012 – N. K. P. Salve, Indian politician ( b. 1921 )

* 1933 – Pierluigi Vigna, Italian magistrate ( d. 2012 )

* 1921 – Richard Adler, American songwriter and composer ( d. 2012 )

* 1923 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria ( d. 2012 )

* 1928 – Henning Moritzen, Danish actor ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – John Berry, English motorcycle racing promoter and manager ( b. 1944 )

* 2012 – Martin Fleischmann, Czech-English chemist ( b. 1927 )

In the summer of 2012 after several months of negotiations Ivan Savvidi became the new major shareholder of PAOK after investing 12 milion euros, the 2 of them were given at the club as a loan in May 2012. The new shareholder of PAOK established a new financial policy at the club in order to pay off the vast debts which were created by the previous administrations and so the club would from now on use players from the academies rather than buying foreign players with doubtful quality. PAOK board appointed the young and talented Greek coach Giorgos Donis after terminating the contract with László Bölöni due to a bad season. PAOK enter the Europa League 3rd Qualification Round and with an 0-2 away and a 4-1 home win over Bnei Yehuda was qualifed for the Play – Off Round where the club faced Rapid Wien but was eliminated after a 2-1 home win and a 3-0 away defeat. The elimination was a serious financial blow to the club since the economic profits from a qualification would cover over half of the team's budget from the 2012-2013 season.

" The Ben Yehuda Strasse Dictionary: A Dictionary of Spoken Yekkish in the Land of Israel, published in 2012, documents this language.

On 9 February 2012, Steinsaltz was honored by Israeli President Shimon Peres with Israel's first President's Prize for his scholarship in Talmud.

In September, 2012, the Israeli ' Haaretz ' newspaper published an expose on Eritrea.

In July 2012, a Lebanese man was detained by Cyprus police on possible charges relating to terrorism laws for planning attacks against Israeli tourists.

In April 2012, UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, in response to moves by Israel to legalise Israeli outposts, reiterated that all settlement activity is illegal, and " runs contrary to Israel's obligations under the Road Map and repeated Quartet calls for the parties to refrain from provocations.

Loach is supporting the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the London Assembly election, 2012 He wrote a letter to The Observer in 2012 condemning the Globe theatre for allowing an Israeli theatre company to perform there.

* 1910 – Benzion Netanyahu, Israeli historian, father of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ( d. 2012 )

* 2012 – Shmuel Tankus, Israeli naval officer, fifth commander of the Israeli Navy ( b. 1914 )

In May 2012, Patinkin delivered the opening speech at the " Annual Convention of the Israeli Left ", where he recounted his experiences during a visit to the West Bank with members of the " breaking the silence " organization.

" The IOC rejected an international campaign in support of a minute of silence at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics in honor of the Israeli victims of the massacre.

In the July 2012 issue of Foreign Affairs Waltz took issue with the view of most U. S., European, and Israeli, commentators and policymakers that a nuclear-armed Iran would be unacceptable.

* 2012 – Haim Hefer, Israeli songwriter and poet ( b. 1925 )

According to their tally, there were 751 Samaritans as of January 1, 2012, living exclusively in two localities, one in Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the other in the Israeli city of Holon.

** Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli politician ( d. 2012 )

* Israeli transfer of Palestinian militant bodies ( 2012 )

In February 2012, Netanyahu visited Cyprus, the first visit of an Israeli Prime Minister in history.

In August 2012, seven Israeli youths were arrested in Jerusalem for what several witnesses described as an attempted lynching of several Palestinian teenagers.

* Michael Harris ( academic ), named the best Israeli in the field of academics, as one of " The 10 Most Successful Israelis in 10 Different Fields in the World " by Maariv ( newspaper ) in April 2012.

The President of the Technion is Prof. Peretz Lavie, who was ranked in 2012 by the Israeli national newspaper The Marker as among the country's 100 most influential people.

In August 2012, amid a time of uncertainty regarding the future of the peace treaty, the Egyptian Military entered with Tanks in to the de-militarized zone without Israeli approval, in violation of the peace treaty terms.

In March 2012, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill sponsored by Kadima MK Rachel Adato and Likud MK Danny Danon requiring advertisements which have been retouched to alter the body shape of models to fully disclose the fact.

In May 2012, Lauder reacted " with dismay " at a suggestion by Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore to impose a European Union-wide import ban on products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Gilmore said were “ illegal ” and made peace between Israel and the Palestinians “ impossible ”.

In June 2012, on the third anniversary of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’ s speech at Bar-Ilan University, Lauder published a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal and other newspapers in which he called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table.