Meir Dagan, who headed the Mossad Intelligence Agency from 2002-2011 died at the age of 71 of a difficult illness. Funeral arrangements to be announced.

Dagan arrived in Israel from the Ukraine at the age of five and settled in a transit camp near Lod. He entered the paratroops corps in 1963 and was a company commander in the Six Day War. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War he fought at and crossed the Suez Canal. During the First Lebanon War he commanded a division of tanks. He retired from the IDF in 1995 at the rank of major-general after serving as Head of Operations Directorate. He was appointed to head the Mossad by Ariel Sharon in 2002.

In response to his death President Reuven Rivlin stated, “Meir was one of the bravest fighters the Jewish people has known. He was imaginative and had profound faith. His dedication to the State of Israel was absolute – he saw his own well-being linked to that of the state and did everything possible to ensure the State of Israel’s survival for generations to come. His heritage and hardships his grandfather endured in the Holocaust were etched in his mind. During the last Holocaust Memorial Day, Meir asked me as the President of Israel, to recite the names of his family, his grandfather, at the “every person has a name” ceremony. Meir Dagan, the giant of all giants – as he was known, symbolized for many the rebirth of the State of Israel from the ashes of the Holocaust. I knew Meir as an adviser, a wise man, a loving and beloved man in all his rawness, a leader and man of the people. I bow my head in his memory, and send my condolences to his family.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu added, “I would like to express deep sadness on the passing of Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Meir Dagan. Meir was a daring fighter and commander who greatly contributed to the security of the state in Israel’s wars, at the [National Security Council] Counter-Terrorism Bureau and as Director of the Mossad. The photograph in which his grandfather is being humiliated by Nazi soldiers shortly before he was murdered in the Holocaust was always before his eyes. Meir was determined to ensure that the Jewish People would never be helpless and defenseless again and to this end he dedicated his life to building up the strength of the State of Israel. In the eight years in which he served as Director of the Mossad, he led the organization to daring and pioneering operations. A great soldier has passed away; may his memory be blessed.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)