Israel Matzav

The seer of the Mossad

People who retire from senior positions in Israel's security agencies never go quietly into the sunset. Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan is proving to be no exception. In a speech at Hebrew University on Friday, Dagan attempted to turn the country away from contemplating an attack on Iran's nuclear program.

“Anyone attacking Iran needs to understand that it could start a regional war which will include missile fire from Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Iranian problem must be made an international problem, and we must continue to work to delay the nuclear program,” he said.

Well, no kidding. And what do we do when the 'international community' isn't willing to do anything about it?

This was the first time Dagan had made his opposition to an Israeli strike against Iran public. In the past he has called for continued covert action against Iran and for investing in opposition groups within the country with the objective of toppling the Islamic regime run by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

That's fine and for now Iran seems to be having enough problems to postpone the unclear program for a while. But Dagan sounds like he's angling for a position in the Labor party.

He also had some rather bizarre things to say about the Arab spring, which prompted Jeffrey Goldberg to comment:

Dagan also provided some -- how shall we call it? -- counterintuitive analysis of the Arab revolts sweeping the Middle East:

The former Mossad chief expressed disagreement with the opinions of pundits regarding the uprisings across the Middle East since the beginning of 2011 saying that "there is no tsunami of change in the Middle East."

Maybe Dagan hasn't visited the Middle East lately.

Probably. After all, Israelis who finish their duties in the security forces tend to go gallivanting around the world for a while.

Labels: Iranian nuclear program, Meir Dagan, Mossad

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:25 PM