until September 2002. 9 July: Major General Amos Malka takes office
as director of Military Intelligence (DMI). 15 July: Nahum Manbar is
sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for selling raw materials and know-
how 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), 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 divi-
sion of labor among the Mossad, Military Intelligence (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 collect-
ing 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 director of Military Intelligence (DMI)
with promotion to major general. He serves in this position until 2005.
2002 May: Ofeq-5, replacing Ofeq-3, is successfully launched. Sep-
tember: Meir Dagan is appointed director of the Mossad and assumes
office. 16 November: The Knesset adopts the Israeli Security Agency
(ISA) Law, regulating and restricting the ISA interrogators’ use of force
against suspected terrorists.
2003 July: The Knesset Committee of Inquiry into Israel’s Intelli-
gence 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.
2004 March: The Knesset Committee of Inquiry into Israel’s Intelli-
gence 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. July: Two Mossad agents are found guilty by a
New Zealand court of fraudulently attempting to obtain New Zealand
passports. September: The launch of Ofeq-6, equipped with long-range
cameras fitted with sophisticated night vision capabilities, fails.
2005 May: Yuval Diskin is appointed director of the Israeli Security
Agency (ISA). June: Major General Amos Yadlin is appointed director
of Military Intelligence (DMI).CHRONOLOGY• xxxvii06-102 (01) FM.qxd 3/24/06 7:22 AM Page xxxvii