'Political pressure must not force Iran strike'

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan kicks off new movement that will lobby for political reform in Israel.

By DANIEL CLINTON, GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Mier Dagan speaking_521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Mier Dagan speaking_521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan kicked off a new movement calling for changes in the political system Wednesday by warning that the current system could result in faulty decision- making on key issues, including Iran.
Dagan, who cannot run for the next Knesset due to a three year cooling-off period for former top-security officials, spoke about the vision of his new movement called “Yesh Sikui” (“There is a Chance”) at its founding conference at Tel Aviv’s Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People.
“We must demand that when the prime minister is making fateful strategic decisions, such as action against Iran, he will not give in to – or have his hand forced – by political pressure,” Dagan said.
Yesh Sikui will conduct a massive advertising campaign nationwide in an effort to push changing the political system to the top of the national agenda. The organization includes several top academics and business leaders.
Dagan said he would push for raising the threshold of votes needed for a party to reach the Knesset to 3 percent, having 50% of MKs elected in regional elections, and making it mandatory that the prime minister be from the party that receives the most votes in the election.
The former Mossad chief also decried the large number of ministers and deputy ministers in the current government, saying the maximum should be 16.
“The state of Israel faces great challenges, some of them from within,” Dagan said. “There are impossible chasms and divisions into sectors that enable minority and pressure groups to control the state, while the majority is not heard and has no way of implementing its agenda.”
Since leaving the Mossad last year, Dagan has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s policies, especially on Iran.
Channel 10 reported that Kadima leadership candidate Shaul Mofaz has promised Dagan that he would appoint him to be defense minister if he is elected prime minister. Dagan and Mofaz share the same political strategist and the same views on how to reform the political system.
Mofaz’s spokesman would not confirm the report.