| Mossad rocked by resignations { October 8 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=55634&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=55634&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
Mossad rocked by resignations Published: Saturday, 8 October, 2005, 11:43 AM Doha Time JERUSALEM: Israel’s spy agency, Mossad, has been rocked to the core by an internal crisis provoking an avalanche of resignations since Meir Dagan was appointed its chief in 2002, a newspaper reported yesterday.
“Earthquake at heart of Mossad,” ran a headline on the front page of the Yediot Aharonot, detailing a “wave” of unprecedented departures from staff accusing their boss of driving the elite agency into a “dead end”.
Defections stem from a serious breach of trust between agents and reserve general Dayan. Among six recent people to leave are the second and third in command, plus the head of special operations, the daily said.
The latest report comes just over a year after Israel’s private Channel 2 television claimed in November that more than 200 agents, including seven department heads, had resigned over the policies of its controversial boss.
Dagan, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has come under fire for launching risky operations abroad, said the documentary based on interviews with former officials in the agency.
When Dagan took over in October 2002, Mossad switched its sights on international ‘terrorism’ with a renewed focus on overseas commando operations.
But the Israeli press has accused him of pushing the fight against ‘terrorism’ to the top of its priority list at the expense of its information collection and analysis.
Dagan was Sharon’s political adviser during his election campaign and previously served as an anti-terror adviser to Sharon’s main political rival and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In 1970, Dagan ran a secret commando unit called Rimon, which, according to press reports, summarily executed Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks in the once Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. - AFP
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