Yadlin defends ex-Mossad chief Dagan

The Zionist Union’s Amos Yadlin defends ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan, after the security official came under fire from a Likud MK for criticizing the prime minister.

Dagan harshly criticized Netanyahu in a Channel 2 interview and at an anti-Netanyahu rally on Saturday night, which drew some 40,000 people.

In response, Deputy Environmental Protection Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) painted Dagan as an ingrate.

“I personally call on him [Dagan] to thank Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for saving his life while he underwent surgery,” Akunis said during an interview on Army Radio Sunday, likely referring to Dagan’s 2012 liver transplant in Belarus during which terror groups issued threats against the former Mossad chief. In response, the prime minister sent Israeli security to the Minsk hospital until Dagan could return home.

“As a Jew, I believe in showing gratitude,” Akunis said during the interview, and called Dagan’s attack on Netanyahu “personal, and not objective.”

Yadlin chimes into the debate, calling on the Likud to retract its “ugly” statements against “a great man who contributed much to the security of Israel,” according to the Ynet news website.

“Like all other issues, here to, the government is engaged in slander rather than action and decisions. All those Likud officials need to ask themselves why all the former security chiefs are coming out against their policies. The time has come that they look in the mirror and answer all the tough questions Dagan raised, instead of attacking him personally.”