http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=179646
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'Mossad doesn't accept losers'
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF
06/27/2010 11:30
Dubai police chief says Meir Dagan out of job because of botched hit.
Dubai police chief Lt.-Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim was eager to comment Sunday on
the recent shakeup in the Mossad's leadership.
Meir Dagan was pressed to leave his job as Mossad chief because "the Mossad
certainly does not accept losers," said Tamim in an interview with the Emirati
newspaper Gulf News cited by Army Radio.
Tamim was referring to the suspected Mossad hit of senior Hamas operative
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh and the subsequent international fallout generated by the
use of stolen identities and forged passports by the alleged members of the
assassination team.
Meir Dagan's tenure as head of the Mossad is likely to end in the coming
months, reportedly in wake of the international criticism that Israel suffered
following the January assassination of Hamas archterrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
in Dubai.
Dagan, a former IDF general, was appointed head of the Mossad in 2002 by
then-prime minister Ariel Sharon. During his eight-year tenure, the Mossad has
been attributed with assassinating Hizbullah's military chief in Damascus, a
top Syrian general in Tartus as well as a number of top Iranian nuclear
scientists.
While according to the Channel 2 report Dagan asked for an extension, the Prime
Minister's office issued a statement Saturday night saying that Dagan never
requested an extension. "The Prime Minister decided last year to extend the
head of the Mossad's tenure by a year. Since then no additional decision has
been made," the statement said.
When Sharon appointed him to the post, Dagan decided to focus the Mossad's work
on stopping Iran's nuclear program as well as acting against global terrorism.
He has been credited with restoring the Mossad's relevance to the global war on
terrorism and, according to foreign reports, the Mossad has in recent years
succeeded in sabotaging and thereby delaying Iran's nuclear program.
The decision to end Dagan's tenure was reported first Friday night on Channel 2
News, which also claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu planned to
appoint his successor from within the Mossad's ranks.
RELATED:
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Dubai police wants Dagan arrested
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