Meir Dagan
Meir DaganIsrael news photo: Flash 90

Meir Dagan, who recently stepped down as Mossad chief and promptly and harshly criticized the government, is paying for his words and must return his diplomatic passport, Channel 2 television reported.

Normally, retired officials can retain their special passports until they expire, but Dagan’s accusations that the Netanyahu government’s policies on Iran are irresponsible may have gone too far.

Dagan publicly warned against attacking Iran, essentially taking the ”military option” off the table. He said that an aerial attack on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities would be a “dumb idea, the stupidest thing I have ever heard.”

The office of the Prime Minister replied to the Channel 2 report with a statement that “a diplomatic passport is given to officials in order to aid them in their jobs. According to the law, when those people are no longer assuming those positions, they are asked to return the diplomatic passport.”

Dagan’s comments at Tel Aviv and Hebrew University forums were surprising, considering his hawkish image.

He criticized the government for not taking a diplomatic initiative on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and even expressed support for adopting what have been called the “Auschwitz borders” that confined Israel between the temporary 1949 Armistice Agreement and the Six Day War in 1967.