Meir Dagan - Biography

Meir Dagan (born 30 January 1945) is a former Israel Defense Forces officer and former Director of the Mossad (replaced by Tamir Pardo on January 1, 2011).

Biography

Dagan was born Meir Huberman to parents from Novosibirsk, USSR. He was born on a train being used by the Nazis to deport Jews to concentration camps in Poland. His maternal grandfather, Ber Erlich Sloshny, was killed by German soldiers during the Holocaust. On Israeli Independence Day in 2009, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published two photos of Nazi soldiers standing next to a kneeling Sloshny shortly before he was killed. During his term as Director of the Mossad, Dagan kept one of the photographs in hanging his office. In 1950, Meir and his family made aliyah to Israel.

During the 1967 Six-Day War, Dagan served as an officer in the Paratroopers Brigade. In the early 1970s, Dagan commanded a temporarily-formed undercover commando unit, known as Sayeret Rimon, whose task was to combat the increasing insurgent violence in the Palestinian territories. He received a Medal of Courage for disarming a terrorist in 1971. Dagan later fought in the Yom Kippur War. During the 1982 Lebanon War, he commanded an armored brigade.

Dagan was appointed Director of the Mossad by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in August 2002, replacing outgoing Director Ephraim Halevy. He was reconfirmed until the end of 2008 by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in February 2007, and in June 2008 Olmert again extended his tenure until the end of 2009.

In mid 2007 Dagan had a "spat with the Deputy Director N, who was thought to be a candidate for replacing Dagan in late 2008. Dagan restored his former deputy T to the post and Dagan was thought likely to recommend T as his replacement.

He was re-appointed in 2009 by Netanyahu to serve until the end of 2010. In January 2010, the Mossad allegedly assassinated Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. The Dubai Police identified it as a murder, and the culprit as the Mossad. Israel also faced international criticism for allegedly forging European passports, and a Dubai arrest warrant was issued for Dagan. In June 2010 a report from Channel 2 stated that Netanyahu had denied a request by Dagan for another year as Mossad director, though this was quickly denied by the Prime Minister's Office. In November 2010, Tamir Pardo was announced as his replacement.

Following his departure from his post as Director of the Mossad, Dagan made several controversial public statements concerning the prudence of an Israeli military attack on Iran's nuclear facilties. He has asserted that such an attack would be “a stupid idea...The regional challenge that Israel would face (following such an attack) would be impossible". He was quoted in the media as saying that he has decided to speak out because with his retirement, as well as with the recent retirement of both Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin, “there is no one to stop Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and Barak [Defense Minister Ehud Barak].” Dagan was quoted as saying that when he was in office he, Diskin and Ashkenazi could “block any dangerous adventure." In response to these criticisms, the Prime Minister's Office revoked Dagan's diplomatic passport, which ex-officials customarily are allowed to keep up until expiration.

As of 2011, Dagan serves as the director of the Israel Ports Company. In 2011 he was also appointed chairman of Gulliver Energy Ltd. (TASE:GLVR), which announced that it intends to mine uranium at a license in the Dead Sea area.

Dagan is a vegetarian and an amateur painter, who studied painting and sculpture at the Tel Aviv University.