a field court-martial conducted by Shai members and presided over by
Isser Be’eri. The charge is treason, based on circumstantial evidence.
Tobianski is later cleared of espionage charges. 30 June: Shai is for-
mally dismantled. Heker 2, an ultrasecret unit, is set up in the Political
Department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Its missions are sabotage
and propaganda behind enemy lines. Chaim Herzog is appointed direc-
tor of Military Intelligence (DMI), holding this position until 1950. MI
is assigned the responsibility for combat intelligence, operations secu-
rity and counterespionage, listening, and censorship. July: The listen-
ing unit moves into the Tsahalon building in Jaffa. 22 July:Changes are
made in the structure of the operations section of the IDF and intelli-
gence. Functions formerly belonging to Shai are to merge into the Mil-
itary Intelligence Service, under the IDF Operations Branch. The new
body is to encompass the combat intelligence, censorship, and opera-
tions sections and will be headed by Be’eri. The head of the combat in-
telligence section is to be Binyamin Gibli. 30 July:MI is created under
the IDF General Staff branch. Eventually this service is to become the
Department of Intelligence. 1 August:Under Order 48/25, the Intelli-
gence Service comes into force. 20 August:The first regulations of the
Intelligence Service, drawn up by Herzog and Be’eri, are approved. 22
September:Yigael Yadin, head of Operations Branch, publishes a doc-
ument defining the division of authority between MI and the Political
Department of the Foreign Ministry. October: The offices of the Shai,
headed by Be’eri, are transferred to the Green House in Jaffa.1949 24 March: The original order of Intelligence Service is can-
celed, replaced by a new order prepared by Herzog; the Department of
Intelligence in the General Staff is divided into branches called Military
Intelligence Service (IS) with a number appended. April: A supreme
committee for intelligence work is formed and chaired by Shiloah; later
it is titled the Committee of Directors of the Intelligence Services,
known by the Hebrew acronym VARASH. On the establishment of this
committee, the Magic Carpet operation for secret airlifting of Yemeni
Jews to Israel begins; by its end in September 1950 it will have brought
some 45,000 out of 46,000 Yemeni Jews to Israel. 2 May: Ya’acov
Buqa’i, disguised as an Arab en route to Syria on a spying mission, is
caught by the Jordanian authorities. July: Shiloah proposes the creation
of a central institution to enhance coordination and cooperation amongCHRONOLOGY• xxi06-102 (01) FM.qxd 3/24/06 7:22 AM Page xxi