Dagan Liver Transplantation Performed by French Surgeon. Associates Say Lukashenka Compromised His Safety
Ex-chief of Israel intelligence the Mossad Meir Dagan remains in an intensive care unit in a Belarus’ hospital after a liver transplantation.
His condition has stabilized thou remains serious, Times of Israel reports. It also mentions that the transplant was performed by Dr. Daniel Azoulay of the Paris transplant center; senior Israeli doctors assisted. However, the liver was a Belarusian one.
The fact of the operation was first revealed by Belarusian president Aliaksandr Lukashenka live during a press conference for regional journalists from Russia.
“I don’t want to name the last example, but it will probably be a widely-known one,”
Lukashenka noted while he told about the success of Belarusian transplantology.
“The former head of the Mossad wasn’t operated anywhere — he needed a liver transplantation. Ten days have passed since the cooperation. Only Belarus agreed to perform the surgery. America refused, Germany refused, Sweden refused. But they all recommended Alieh Rumo [the chief of Belarusian centre of transplantation of organs and tissues — NN].”
Previously, Dagan’s representatives said they had never addressed Swedish medics to negotiate about the possibility of surgery.
The operation was not performed in the US as Meir Dagan did not meet the criteria for the operation. Israel turned down the operation as Dagan exceeded the permitted age for a liver transplantation by two years.
Israeli Channel 2 reported that Dagan had been set to undergo the surgery in India, but that the Indian authorities ultimately refused to treat him because of his Mossad past.
However, Belarusian transplantation legislation is much more loyal that in the US or Israel: the organs of any person could be used for transplantation after person’s death in case he or she haven’t previously forbidden to do so signing by a legal notice.
But Lukashenka’s candour may harm the former intelligence chief. Dagan’s associates are sure that fear his safety has been compromised after the confession by Lukashenka. According to defense officials, the former Mossad chief is the target of revenge attacks by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, Ynet informs.
Meir Dagan, 67, was born in Novosibirsk to the family of Polish Jews who were moved to Siberia. He became the chief of Israel intelligence the Mossad in 2002 and stayed in the office until 2011. Since May, 2011, Dagan has been the President of Gulliver Energy, gas and oil mining enterprise.