Meir Dagan to get one more year as agency's leader thanks to his "exceptional success," PMO says.
By AP, JPOST.COM STAFF
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has extended the term of the chief of the Mossad, according to a statement from Olmert's office Sunday citing Meir Dagan's "exceptional success." The statement said that he will remain in his job until the end of 2009.
The organization's list of achievements under his six years of leadership was "very impressive," said the statement. "More, of course, cannot be said," it continued.
Olmert's decision to extend Dagan's contract was first reported by The Sunday Times following the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in February. According to the paper, the successful killing of Mughniyeh had clinched the government's decision to do so. Olmert reportedly summoned the Mossad chief to his office the day after the assassination, complimented him on a job well done and informed him of the decision.
This report has not been confirmed, and Israel has denied any involvement in Mughniyeh's death.
According to another Times report, Dagan was also the man who initiated preparations for Israel's attack on an alleged Syrian reactor in September, when he came to Olmert six months earlier and presented him with intelligence indicating that Syria was pursuing a nuclear capability.