The head of Israel's Mossad spy agency submitted his resignation Tuesday after a government inquiry blamed him for the botched attempt to kill an Islamic militant leader in Jordan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the resignation of Danny Yatom, Netanyahu's office said.Netanyahu gave the final approval for the Sept. 25 attack on Hamas political leader Khalid Mashaal but was cleared of blame by three investigators he had appointed.
The botched assassination attempt strained relations with Jordan, Israel's only friend in the Arab world. Jordan's King Hussein has said he would only resume security cooperation once Yatom resigned.
Pressure for Yatom to step down had also come from within the Mossad. The Yediot Ahronot daily said Tuesday that Yatom's No. 2 refused to talk to his boss and that other senior Mossad officials had considering asking Netanyahu to fire Yatom.
In a letter to Netanyahu, Yatom wrote that he disagreed with the findings of the inquiry, which held him largely responsible for the botched operation.
"At the same time, I have no intention of ignoring the report and as the person responsible for the operations of the Mossad, I decided to submit my resignation to you," Yatom wrote.
In the Mashaal operation, Mossad agents crossed into Jordan on forged Canadian passports and injected the Hamas leader with poison. Mashaal survived and the agents were caught and later freed in a prisoner swap for the jailed founder of Hamas, Ahmed Yassin, and 20 other inmates.
The panel of inquiry found that Yatom gave little consideration to the possibility that the operation might fail.