Danny Yatom

Danny Yatom (דני יתום, born 15 March 1945) is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Labour. Before that he was a Director of the Mossad security service.

Background
Yatom studied mathematics, physics and computer science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA. From 1963 to 1996 he served in the Israel Defense Forces and worked in the Sayeret Matkal force, rising to the position of deputy commander, after which he moved to the Armor Corps and then became the head of the Israeli Central Command, ranked Major General. Between 1996 and 1998 he served as head of the Mossad. He resigned following the attempt to assassinate Khaled Mashal. Between 1999 and 2001 he served as Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Chief Of Staff and security advisor. He then became a Knesset member and served in the 16th and 17th Knesset, from 2003 until June 2008, when he resigned from the Knesset and from Israeli politics.

Knesset
In 2003 he was elected to the Knesset on Labour's list, and served as head of the committee on foreign workers, as well as chairing the lobbies for enlisted soldiers and the West Bank barrier. He retained his seat in the 2006 elections and served as head of the West Bank barrier lobby. He retained his seat in the 2006 elections, but resigned from the Knesset on 30 June 2008, stating that he was "not willing to be part of a political reality in which basic values are trampled upon, such as leading by example, ethics, and integrity". He was replaced by Leon Litinski.