|
Israeli Intelligence, Espionage and Covert Operations:From 1992 to Present |
|
|
Israeli Intelligence, Espionage and Covert Operations:From 1992 to Present |
| Zionism | Maps | History | Dictionary | Biography | Definitions | e-Zion | about | FAQ | timeline | photo gallery | Books | Documents | links | contact |
Chronology of Israeli Intelligence and Covert Activities 1992-present:
|
|
Israel Pre-State Intelligence Timeline | Israel Intelligence Timeline - 1948-1955 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1956-1961 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1961-1967 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1968-1973 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1974-1982 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1983-1991 | Israel Intelligence Timeline 1992-present
Intelligence gathering and covert operations are part of the normal function of any state. Israel has spied, and been spied against. A great deal of the success of Israel, a tiny and weak state for most of its existence, and of the Zionist movement before the creation of the state, was due to its renowned information gathering and covert operations activities, carried out by the Mossad, the IDF and the Shabak. The exploits of Israeli intelligence have been lauded by its friends, and naturally enough, condemned by its enemies. Israeli intelligence has also had a number of failures, and some of them were responsible for key setbacks, such as failure to predict the Yom Kippur War.
These timelines provide detailed accounts of Israeli and Zionist covert activities since 1915.
Further reading:
A Timeline of Zionist and Israeli history provides further context and background Additional links Zionism and Israel - historical sources, Photo Gallery of Zionist History and the history of Zionism and Modern Israel and Zionism & its Impact will help round out the picture. A detailed timeline of the Six Dar War 1967 Six Day War Timeline (chronology)
Additional information (off site) Brief History of Israel and Palestine and Labor Zionism The article - Anti-Semitism includes a Timeline of Anti-Semitism
|
|
|
1992 | Ya'acov Kedmi is appointed director of Nativ, the intelligence organization focusing on the USSR and Eastern European countries, serving in this position until 1999. | |
| Sept. | Nativ organizes the evacuation of Jews from the city of Sukhumi in Georgia, which is under attack by Muslim rebels. The same month, it operates an airlift of Jews from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, which has also been attacked by rebels, members of an extremist Muslim organization. | ||
| Sept. 2 1993 | Shimon Levinson, a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) colonel, is convicted of spying for the USSR. | ||
| 1995 | Moshe Ya'alon is appointed head of AMAN (military intelligence) with promotion to major general. Israelis kill Hamas member Yihyeh Ayash, "the engineer" responsible for murdering than 60 people in terrorist operations. The killing is carried out using a booby-trapped cellphone. | ||
| April |
|
||
| 25 Oct. | Dr. Fathi Shkaki, leader of the Islamic Jihad, is shot and killed in Malta, allegedly by the Mossad. | ||
| Nov. 5 |
|
||
| 1996 | Yehuda Gill, an aging Mossad agent who is no longer able to produce valuable information fabricates a false assessment that Syria is making preparations to launch a war against Israel. The fabrication is discovered after creating a brief panic. | ||
| June | Danny Yatom is appointed director of the Mossad and serves in this position until 1998. | ||
| Sept. 1997 | Mossad agents fail in an attempt to assassinate Khaled Masha'al, a leader of the Hamas, in Amman, Jordan. The failed assassination and the false Canadian passports used by the arrested Mossad agents strain Israel's relations with Jordan and Canada. To mend relations, under pressure from Jordan, Israel releases Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Hamas, who had an active role in organizing and approving terror operations. | ||
| Jan. 1998 | Launch of the Ofek-4 satellite fails. | ||
| Feb. 18 | Mossad agents are caught trying to plant listening devices in an apartment in Bern, Switzerland, belonging to Abdulla Al-Zayn, a key figure in the Hizbullah movement in Europe. | ||
| March 5 | Efraim Halevy is appointed director of the Mossad; he serves in this position until Sept. 2002. | ||
| July 9 | Major General Amos Malka takes office as head of AMAN (military intelligence). | ||
| July 15 | Nahum Manbar is sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for selling raw materials and knowhow on the production of biological and chemical weapons to Iran and giving advice on how to set up factories. | ||
| 2000 | Avraham (Avi) Dichter is appointed director of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA, Shin Bet, Shabaq), serving in this position until 2005. His period as director of the ISA coincides with the tough years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada; Dichter records success in a substantial decline in the level of Palestinian terror against the Israeli population. Magna Carta 2, an agreement on the division of labor among the Mossad, MI, and the ISA aimed at introducing order into their work, is signed by the directors of these organizations. | ||
| April | In recognition of the growing need for collecting combat intelligence by professional bodies, and the vital necessity to combine them in an organic framework, a decision is made to create a field intelligence corps. | ||
| 2001 | Aharon Ze'evi is appointed head of AMAN (military intelligence) with promotion to major general. He serves in this position until 2005. | ||
| August 2001 | Mossad warns US of probable terror attacks, but US agencies ignore the warning. | ||
| March-April 2002 | After Palestinian terror operations kill over 100 persons in the month of March, Israel launches operation Defensive Shield (Homat Magen - Defensive Wall), invading the West Bank and capturing numerous documents including documents incriminating PLO/PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian authority in financing of terror operations and the manufacture of suicide bomber vests. The intelligence windfall along with the security fence built along the Green line armistice border enables Israel to control and thwart terror attacks. | ||
| May 2002 | Ofek-5, replacing Ofek-3, is launched successfully. | ||
| Sept. | Meir Dagan is appointed director of the Mossad and assumes office. | ||
| Nov. 16 | The Knesset adopts the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) Law, regulating and restricting the ISA interrogators' use of force against suspected terrorists. | ||
| July 2003 | The Knesset Committee of Inquiry into Israel's Intelligence System in Light of the War in Iraq begins its work. The aim is to assess the functioning of the Israeli intelligence system in light of what are deemed failures stemming from major inherent structural problems. | ||
| March 2004 | The Knesset Committee of Inquiry into Israel's Intelligence System in Light of the War in Iraq concludes its work and proposes an unprecedented and far-reaching program of structural reform for the intelligence community. | ||
| March 22, 2004 | Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Hamas terror group, is killed by precise Israeli missile fire after intelligence intercepts determine that Yassin was involved in giving the green light for terror operations. He is replaced by Dr. Abdel-Aziz Rantissi, who had headed the Izzedin al Qassam brigades, the military wing of the Hamas. | ||
| April 17, 2004 | Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantissi, leader of the Hamas, is killed in Gaza when his car is hit by a missile. Rantissi had been personally responsible for planning numerous terror attacks. | ||
| July 2004 | Two Mossad agents. Zosha Kelman and Eli Cara, are found guilty by a New Zealand court of fraudulently attempting to obtain New Zealand passports. New Zealand suspends diplomatic relations with Israel. | ||
| Sept. 6 | The launch of Ofek-6, equipped with long-range cameras fitted with sophisticated night vision capabilities, fails. | ||
| May 2005 | Yuval Diskin is appointed director of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). | ||
| June | Major General Amos Yadlin is appointed head of AMAN (military intelligence). | ||
| July 2005 | New Zealand resumes diplomatic relations with Israel, suspended in 2004. | ||
| July - Aug. 2006 | Second Lebanon War - Israeli military performance is hampered by various factors including poor intelligence. After the war, the Winograd Commission is appointed to assess the failures and shortcomings. | ||
| June 11, 2007 | Ofek-7 satellite launched successfully. | ||
| June 28 2007 | Ashraf Marwan, the Egyptian double agent who gave Israel disinformation prior to the Yom Kippur war, dies in a mysterious four story fall from the balcony of his home in London. | ||
| Sept 6, 2007 | Based on aerial and human intelligence, Israel discerns that a plant in Syria is engaged in activities related to nuclear weapons development. IAF bombs the plant after consultation with US, and with support provided by US. Ground forces ensure that the area is decontaminated. Syria denies any wrongdoing, but quickly plows under the entire site. During the attack, Syrian radar and anti-aircraft defenses are totally silent and detect no signs of enemy activity. |
Palestinian Terror Chronologies and Statistics - Main Page
