Jerusalem, Sep. 16 – As the Jewish New Year 5773 is set to begin at sundown on Sunday, here is a timeline of some of the significant events that occurred during the Hebrew calendar year of 5772:
September 29, 2011: New Year 5772 in the Hebrew calendar begins.
October 11, 2011: U.S. officials reveal Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador in Washington.
October 18, 2011: Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released after being illegally held hostage for more than five years by the Hamas terror group in Gaza. Israel releases 1,027 Palestinian prisoners including convicted terrorists.
October 29, 2011: Terrorists in Gaza fire a rocket into Israel, killing a man in his apartment in Ashkelon. The attack is just one of 58 rocket and mortar attacks by terrorists in October.
November 8, 2011: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) releases damning report indicating that it has “credible evidence” that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
December 27, 2011: Iran’s Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi threatens to block the vital Strait of Hormuz to choke the world’s oil supply.
January 1, 2012: Bulgarian authorities uncover a bomb aimed at a bus taking Israeli tourists to a ski resort.
January 4, 2012: The European Union responds to Iran’s refusal to respect repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions and decides in principle to impose an embargo on purchases of Iranian oil.
January 12, 2012: Thai police arrest a Lebanese Hezbollah operative trying to flee the country and trace him to a stash of chemicals for manufacturing explosives.
January 24, 2012: A three-man terror cell traced to Iran is arrested and charged with plotting to carry out attacks on the Israeli ambassador and Jewish targets in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
February 13, 2012: Attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets in Thailand, India and Georgia. Iranians arrested.
In New Delhi, India, a terrorist attaches a bomb to an Israeli embassy car that explodes, injuring the driver and a passenger.
In Tbilisi, Georgia, an Israeli embassy employee discovers a bomb attached to his car. Police successfully neutralize the explosives.
On February 14, a bomb destroys an apartment only blocks from the Israeli embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. Two Iranians flee the scene, while a third is wounded after throwing bombs at a taxi and police car that end up injuring him. A fourth Iranian is arrested trying to flee to neighboring Malaysia. A day later another Iranian traced to the same terror cell is arrested in Malaysia.
February 17, 2012: Israel’s Counterterrorism Bureau issues warning that attempts to harm Israelis around the world will continue.
March 17, 2012: Indian investigators conclude Iranians linked to earlier bombing attacks in India and Thailand. Police issue arrest warrants for three Iranian men who fled the country.
March 19, 2012: Terrorist gunman claiming to be an Al-Qaeda member attacks a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, murdering a teacher and three young schoolchildren. The terrorist had previously shot and killed three French soldiers, wounding a fourth who was left a quadriplegic.
May 20, 2012: Iranian press publishes a statement by Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi who says: “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause that is the full annihilation of Israel.”
May 25, 2012: IAEA issues new report stating: “Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation” and that the IAEA “is unable … to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.”
June 1, 2012: Israeli soldier shot and killed by gunman from Gaza, who is killed by return fire.
June 18, 2012: Terrorists attack across the Egypt-Israel border and kill an Israeli civilian.
June 25, 2012: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts to the election of Mohamed Morsi as Egypt’s new president saying: “Israel looks forward to continuing cooperation with the Egyptian government on the basis of the peace treaty between the two countries, which is a joint interest of both peoples and contributes to regional stability,”
July 2, 2012: Iranian nationals with explosives trying to attack Israeli targets arrested in Kenya.
July 14, 2012: Police in Cyprus arrest a man for allegedly planning attacks against Israeli interests there.
July 17, 2012: Three more rockets are fired from Gaza into Israel, bringing to at least 513 the number of rockets and mortars fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza so far in 2012.
July 18, 2012: Terrorist bomb in Burgas, Bulgaria kills seven and wounds more than 30 – three of them critically. Attack comes on the 18th anniversary of the Hezbollah bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that killed 85 people.
August 5, 2012: Terrorists affiliated with “Global Jihad” kill 15 Egyptian security officers and steal two vehicles, using one to blow their way through the border. Israeli forces destroy the second vehicle inside Israel and kill the attackers. Egyptian sources say attackers had help from Jihadists in Gaza.
August 22, 2012: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei orders new terror attacks on Western targets.
September 14, 2012: Terrorists fire a rocket from Gaza that misses its target in Israel. During 5772 at least 676 rockets and mortars were fired at Israeli towns and cities.
September 15, 2012: U.N. envoy to Syria says more than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 18 months ago. Some 2.5 million Syrians are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.