2007 in Israel - Events

Events

• January 17 – Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, resigns while inquiries into the performance of the Israel Defense Forces in the action against Hezbollah continue.
• January 19 – Moshe Katsav, president of the State of Israel takes a leave of absence. Dalia Itzik is appointed as acting president.
• January 23 – Attorney-General Meni Mazuz announces that he would consider charging President Katsav with rape, sexual harassment, breach of trust, obstruction of justice, harassment of a witness and fraud.
• January 24 – President Katsav holds a press conference broadcast live on Israeli news broadcasts in which he accuses journalists of persecuting him and judging him before all the evidence has been presented and before actually being convicted. In addition, he also accuses the police, who he claims did everything to prove that he is guilty.
• January 28 – Raleb Majadele, Israeli Arab politician, becomes Israel's first Muslim minister when appointed Minister without portfolio. In March 2007 Majadle received the Science, Culture and Sport portfolio.
• February 14 – Gabi Ashkenazi is appointed as the 19th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
• April 22 – Avraham Hirschson, the Finance Minister of Israel, stands down for three months while the Israeli police investigate a claim that he failed to report an embezzlement case when he was working for a trade union.
• April 30 – Israeli PM Ehud Olmert is criticised by the Winograd Commission for taking Israel to war in Lebanon last year "hastily".
• May 3 – Tens of thousands of Israeli protesters at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv call for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government to resign over their mishandling of the 2006 Lebanon war.
• June 11 – The Israeli reconnaissance satellite Ofek-7 is launched.
• June 13 – In the 2007 Presidential Election, the Knesset elects Shimon Peres as the ninth president of the State of Israel, by a second-round vote of 86 for and 23 against, following the withdrawal in his favour of the other two candidates. In the first round, Peres had failed to obtain an absolute majority in the 120-member Knesset receiving 58 votes, against 38 for Reuven Rivlin and 21 for Colette Avital. (Peres does not assume office until July 15.)
• June 28 – President Katsav's lawyers reach a controversial plea bargain with Israel’s attorney general, Menachem Mazuz. According to the deal, Katsav would plead guilty to several counts of sexual harassment and indecent acts and receive a suspended jail sentence, and pay compensation to two of his victims. The more serious rape charges brought by the initial employee, A., have been dropped, as well as Katsav's original charges of her blackmailing him.
• July 1 – Moshe Katsav resigns as president of the State of Israel. Dalia Itzik continues as acting president.
• July 1 – Avraham Hirschson resigns as the Finance Minister of Israel as an investigation into alleged fraud and embezzlement continues.
• July 15 – Shimon Peres assumes office as the ninth president of the State of Israel.
• July 18 – The Knesset decides to extend the Tal Law in another five years, until 2012.
• September 6 – Operation Orchard: Israeli Air Force destroys a suspected nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria which was built with the assistance of North Korea.
• October 10 – Israeli teachers' association begins the longest lasting strike in Israel's education system history. The strike ended after 64 days.
• October 16 – The full length of Highway 471 opens to the public
• November 23 – An Israeli psychiatrist and reserve officer is charged with giving classified information to Iran, Russia and Hamas.

• Raleb Majadele becomes the first Israeli Arab Muslim to serve as a cabinet minister in the government of Israel

• The Israeli reconnaissance satellite Ofek-7 is launched, June 11, 2007

• Operation Orchard – Before and after photo of target

• President Moshe Katsav, resigned as president while facing serious criminal charges