2002 in Israel - Events

Events

• January 28 – Channel 10 begins broadcasting.
• March 28 – 20,000 IDF reservists called up.
• May 28 – The Israeli reconnaissance satellite Ofek-5 is launched.
• April 1 – 20,000 Israeli army reservists mobilized.
• July 9 – Moshe Ya'alon is appointed as the 17th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
• July 23 – The Tal Law is passed in the Knesset by a majority of 51 against 41. The law gives legal status to the continuation of the exemption from mandatory military service granted to Israeli Ultra Orthodox Jews studying at a yeshiva.
• October 9 – Daniel Kahneman receives the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in Prospect theory, becoming the first Israeli Nobel laureate in economics.
• November 28 – 2002 Mombasa attacks: Three Israelis and 10 Kenyans are killed when a car bomb exploded in the lobby of the Israeli-owned beachfront Paradise Hotel, frequented almost exclusively by Israeli tourists near Mombasa in Kenya. 21 Israelis and 60 Kenyans are wounded in the attack. About 20 minutes earlier, an unsuccessful attempt is made to shoot down an Arkia Israel Airlines Boeing 757 chartered tourist plane taking off from nearby Moi International Airport using surface-to-air missiles; nobody is hurt on the plane, which lands safely in Tel Aviv. The main suspect for both attacks is al Qaeda.