Gabi Ashkenazi

Flashback:

– Former Head of Mossad Meir Dagan: Israel Government ‘Reckless And Irresponsible’ – ‘I Decided To Speak Because When I Was In Office, Diskin, Ashkenazi And I Could Block Any Dangerous Adventure. NOW I AM AFRAID THAT THERE IS NO ONE TO STOP BIBI AND BARAK’ (Guardian)

– Heads Of Mossad And Shin Bet May Have Leaked Plans For Attack On Iran, PM Netanyahu Orders An Investigation (Guardian, Nov. 3, 2011):

… the main suspects are the former heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet, respectively Israel’s foreign and domestic intelligence agencies.Netanyahu is said to believe that the two, Meir Dagan and Yuval Diskin, wanted to torpedo plans being drawn up by him and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, to hit Iranian nuclear sites.

In January the recently retired Dagan, a hawk when he was running the Mossad, called an attack on Iran “the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard“.

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– Israeli PM’s 2010 Iran strike order rebuffed by IDF, Mossad – documentary (RT, Nov 5, 2012):

In 2010, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to prepare fully for a war with Iran. The head of Mossad intelligence service and country’s chief of general staff opposed the move and prevented war with Iran, a documentary claims.­Investigative journalist Ilana Dayan produced an hour-long documentary for Israel’s Channel 2 TV on the decision-making process in Israeli policy towards Iran over the last decade, from PM Ariel Sharon to PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The film, to be aired late on Monday, poses the question as to how far a politician can go in taking a “no return” decision to assault a foreign state he believes poses a threat to his country and whether he has the authority to do so unilaterally.

The move was made during a meeting of “forum of seven” group that represents only a part of the Israeli government. Netanyahu addressed the now-retired Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and actually ordered the head of the Israeli Defense Forces to “set the systems for P-plus,” which means full IDF readiness for an assault. The request met full support of the attending the meeting country’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The request put Israel on the brink of war with a country that has practically ten times Israel’s population and a modernized, fairly well-armed and respectively more numerous army.

The demand met fierce objections on the part of Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and the head of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) Meir Dagan, who had to step down after that notorious meeting.

The former Mossad chief told Ilana Dayan that Netanyahu attempted to make the IDF attack Iran’s nuclear objects in a “stealing a war’ manner, in other words, without holding consultations with all 15 members of his cabinet.

After his resignation from Mossad, Dagan called that move by Netanyahu “stupid”, reports AFP.

Read moreIsrael: PM Netanyahu’s 2010 Iran Strike Order Rebuffed By IDF & Mossad