2007 in Israel

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← 2006 2005 2004 2007 in Israel → 2008 2009 2010
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	History of Israel Timeline of Israel history List of years in Israel

The following events occurred in the year 2007 in Israel.

Incumbents

• President of Israel – Moshe Katsav to July 1, Dalia Itzik, acting president January 25 to July 15, Shimon Peres from July 15
• Prime Minister of Israel – Ehud Olmert (Kadima)
• President of the Supreme Court – Dorit Beinisch
• Chief of General Staff – Dan Halutz to February 14, Gabi Ashkenazi
• Government of Israel – 31st Government of Israel

• 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.^[1]
• 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
  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 –
  Science, Culture and Sport portfolio
  .
• February 14 –
  Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
  .
• April 22 –
  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.^[2]
• April 30 – Israeli PM
  war in Lebanon last year "hastily".^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• 10 May – The group Teapacks represents Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Kaftor Adom” ("Push the Button"), reaching the semi-final round.^[5]
• June 11 – The Israeli
  Ofek-7 is launched.^[6]
• June 13 – In 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.^[7]
• July 15 –
  ninth president
  of the State of Israel.
• July 18 – The Knesset decides to extend the
  Tal Law in another five years, until 2012.^[8]
• 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.^[9]

• 
  Israeli Arab Muslim to serve as a cabinet minister in the government of Israel
• 
  The Israeli

  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

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict which occurred during 2007 include:

• January 19 – Israel releases $100 million in frozen assets to
  Palestinian National Authority, in order to bolster Abbas's position and keep money out of the hands of the Hamas government.^[10]
• June 7–15 –
  Ismail Haniya and the Islamist Hamas
  party reject Israel's right to exist.
• June 25 –
  Sharm el-Sheikh aimed at boosting Abbas' leadership of the Palestinian Authority and isolating Hamas after their takeover of Gaza. Olmert announces that he will release 250 Palestinian political prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.^[11]
• July 20 – Israel has begun releasing 250
  Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.^[12]
• August 6 – Israeli Prime Minister
  Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority
  .
• November 19 – Israel releases 450
  2007 Mideast peace conference with the Palestinian Authority.^[13]
• November 27 – The Annapolis Conference is held in Annapolis, the capital of the US state of Maryland. The conference marks the first time a two-state solution is articulated as the mutually agreed-upon outline for addressing the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conference ends with the issuing of a joint statement from all parties.

Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets

The most prominent Palestinian militant acts and operations committed against Israeli targets during 2007 include:

• January 29 –
  suicide bomber from the Gaza Strip infiltrates the northern suburbs of Eilat, Israel. Upon seeing the police approaching, he ducks into a neighbourhood bakery and detonates his bomb, killing the three men employed there – all Israeli Jews.^[14]
• May 2 –
  Islamic Jihad launch at least 18 rockets into Israel, damaging a road, hitting a car in a commercial center of Sderot
  , killing an Israeli woman and lightly wounding 2 others.
• May 21 – A man is killed in Sderot after a rocket landed near the car in which he was sitting.
• September 10 – Two
  Islamic Jihad and PRC claimed responsibility.^[15][16]

Notable Israeli military operations against Palestinian militancy targets

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2010)

The most prominent Israeli military

Palestinian militants

during 2007 include:

• April 7 – Israeli helicopters fire at least two
  Islamic Jihad.^[17]
• May 17 – Gaza–Israel conflict: An Israeli aircraft bombs a building of the Hamas-run Executive Force in Gaza, killing at least one person and injuring about 45 others.^[18]
• May 20 –
  Khalil al-Haya, killing eight people (6 of whom were civilians) and wounding many others; Al-Haya was not at his house at the time of the strike.^[19]

• January 2 – Teddy Kollek (born 1911), Hungarian-born Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem (1965–1993) – natural causes.^[20]
• January 16 – Yuri Stern (born 1949), Russian-born Israeli politician – cancer.
• February 24 – Mordechai Breuer (born 1921), German-born Israeli Bible researcher and orthodox rabbi.
• March 17 –
  1943), Israeli linguist and peace activist – stroke.^[21]
• March 19 –
  1926), Israeli artist, author, poet and former Haaretz
  columnist – pneumonia.
• April 20 –
  Agudat Israel (1972–1981).^[22]
• May 7 –
  1937
  ), Israeli artist – pancreatic cancer.
• May 20 – Baruch Kimmerling (born 1939), Romanian-born Israeli sociologist and historian – cancer.
• June 19 – Ze'ev Schiff (born 1932), French-born Israeli military journalist – heart disease.
• July 8 –
  1932), Israeli film producer – pneumonia.^[23]
• August 5 – Amos Manor (born 1918), Romanian-born Israeli head of Shin Bet (1953–1963).^[24]
• August 27 –
  1935), Israeli former minister and Labor Party Knesset member – heart failure.^[25]
• September 27 –
  1944
  ), Israeli writer and journalist – heart failure.
• September 27 – Avraham Shapira (born 1914), Israeli rabbi, Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel (1983–1993).^[26]
• October 30 –
  1941), Israeli actor, member of comedy group HaGashash HaHiver
  – cancer.
• December 21 – Saadia Marciano (born 1950), Moroccan-born Israeli Black Panthers leader, member of the Knesset.^[27]

See also

• 2007 in Israeli film
• Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
• 2007 in the Palestinian territories

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2007 in Israel.