Meir Dagan

Meir Huberman (later Dagan) was born on a train on the outskirts of Kherson, between the Soviet Union and Poland during World War II to Polish Jewish parents who were fleeing Poland for the Soviet Union to escape the Holocaust. His maternal grandfather, Ber Erlich Sloshny, was killed by the German Nazis in Lukow. In 2009, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published two photos of Nazi soldiers standing next to a kneeling Sloshny shortly before they shot him. During his term as Director-general of the Mossad, Dagan kept one of the photographs hanging in his office. Dagan was a vegetarian and an amateur painter, who studied painting and sculpture at Tel Aviv University. He was married to Bina and had three children. == Military and intelligence career ==

. To his left is Yossi Ben Hanan, to his right is , and to the side is Amos Yaron. Dagan was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1963. He was considered for the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, but ended up joining the Paratroopers Brigade. He completed his compulsory service in 1966, but was called up as a reservist in 1967, and fought in the Six-Day War as an officer, commanding a paratrooper platoon on the Sinai front. and in June 2008, Olmert again extended his tenure until the end of 2009. honoring outgoing Mossad director, Meir Dagan In mid-2007, Dagan had a "spat" with the Deputy Director N, who was thought to be a candidate for replacing Dagan in late 2008. Dagan restored his former deputy "T" to the post and Dagan was thought likely to recommend "T" as his replacement. He was re-appointed in 2009 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to serve until the end of 2010. In June 2010, a report from Channel 2 stated that Netanyahu had denied a request by Dagan for another year as Mossad director, though this was quickly denied by the Prime Minister's Office. In November 2010, Tamir Pardo was announced as his replacement. Following his departure, Dagan made several controversial public statements concerning the prudence of an Israeli military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, openly contradicting the positions of Prime Minister Netanyahu. He called it a "stupid idea" in a May 2011 conference. After Dagan voiced criticism of the prime minister, he was asked to return his diplomatic passport before its expiry date. Dagan repeated the opinion in a March 2012 interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS News' 60 Minutes, calling an Israeli attack on Iran before other options were exhausted "the stupidest idea" and saying he considered the Iranians "a very rational regime." == Business career ==

Dagan served as the director of the Israel Port Authority, and in 2011 was appointed chairman of Gulliver Energy Ltd. (TASE:GLVR), which announced that it intended to mine uranium at a license in the Dead Sea area and drill in search of gold near Eilat. He served as honorary president of the Israeli private intelligence agency Black Cube until his death in 2016. In April 2011, Dagan was awarded the Haim Herzog Award for his unique contribution to the State of Israel. In May 2011, he won the Moskovitz Award for Zionism. == Illness and death ==

, Reuven Rivlin, Shimon Peres, and Moshe Ya'alon in attendance. In 2012, Dagan was diagnosed with liver cancer, and began chemotherapy treatment, but the cancer spread and he began to suffer from liver failure. In October of that year, he flew to Belarus and had a successful liver transplant operation performed by French-Jewish surgeon Daniel Azoulay, considered one of the world's leading liver transplant surgeons. After the operation, he was admitted to an isolation unit for fear of infection. At the time, criteria for a liver transplant in Israel dictated the patient must be no older than 65, so the 67-year-old Dagan had to seek treatment abroad. Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman helped facilitate the operation. On 27 October 2012, after his condition had stabilized, Dagan returned to Israel and was immediately hospitalized. He was discharged from Ichilov Hospital and began recuperating. Dagan was accompanied throughout his ordeal by Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer, with whom he developed a close relationship, and later reciprocated by helping Firer raise funds for a new rehabilitation center. Despite the transplant, the cancer remained in his body. Dagan died of cancer on 17 March 2016 at the age of 71. == See also ==