Meir Dagan, a staunch opponent of Netanyahu's policies towards Iran, has passed away

Meir Dagan, former head of Israel's Mossad and one of the most outspoken opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu's policies towards Iran, passed away early Thursday, March 17, due to cancer. Dagan led Mossad for about 9 years, from 2002 to 2011, which is considered one of the longest tenures in the history of Israel's intelligence and special operations agency since its establishment. He died at the age of 71 from liver cancer, a disease he had been battling for the past five years. According to Israeli media, a year after leaving Mossad, when liver cancer was diagnosed, he secretly went to Belarus for a liver transplant; this transplant kept him alive for four and a half more years. Dagan was one of the most significant intelligence figures in Israel who openly opposed Netanyahu's policies regarding Iran more decisively than any other official. When Netanyahu and his defense minister, Ehud Barak, suggested that an Israeli airstrike on Iran's nuclear sites was imminent, Dagan warned that such an attack could pose enormous risks to Israel itself and could even lead to its destruction. Meanwhile, assessments indicate that cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear sites occurred during Dagan's leadership of Mossad. The deaths of several Iranian nuclear program scientists occurred in subsequent years; Iran accused Mossad of being behind these killings, while Israel remained silent. After Dagan, Tamir Pardo became the head of Mossad, and recently Yossi Cohen was appointed to this position. Benjamin Netanyahu, who still identifies post-JCPOA Iran as the 'greatest threat' to Israel, named monitoring Iran as the most important mission of Mossad during Cohen's appointment. However, Dagan, despite his severe illness, expressed his opposition to various policies of Netanyahu at every opportunity until the end of his life. According to Israeli media, Dagan said in his last speech last month that he was 'deeply concerned for the future of Israel' with this type of leadership in recent years. Israeli media reported that Meir Dagan was born in the city of Khursan in Ukraine and immigrated to Israel with his family when he was five years old, just two years after the establishment of the state. However, Wikipedia states that he was born in Novosibirsk, Russia. His father's original surname was Huberman. Dagan, with 32 years of service in the Israeli army, was appointed to head Mossad by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Despite all of Dagan's disagreements with Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister said on Thursday following the news of Dagan's death that this 'brave commander' and 'one of the greatest warriors of the Jewish nation' dedicated his life to strengthening Israel's power.