Occupied Jerusalem- Former Mossad head of Yossi Cohen confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -who is required for the International Criminal Court on war crimes in the Gaza Strip -bears full responsibility for what happened on October 7, 2023, and for failure and failure to prevent the battle of “Flood of Al -Aqsa”, calling for changing the political leadership in Israel.
In a lengthy interview – his first since the end of his post – with the newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” published at the weekend, Cohen said that, as soon as the attack took place, he should take responsibility and announce an appointment for the elections.
Cohen revealed – during the interview – proposals made by Naftali Bennett, Gadi Eisenkot and Yair Labid to form an alliance aimed at ending Netanyahu’s rule, stressing that the current government must end its mandate immediately.
He also talked about new details related to Mossad activities in Iran, which was also presented in his new book, denying that he had participated in transferring Qatari funds to the Gaza Strip, and concluded by saying: “I have not spoken to Netanyahu a year and a half ago.”
On the break between him and Netanyahu, he sees that the reason may be that he embodies the voice of those who are preparing to run in the upcoming elections to lead Israel, as it cannot be denied that the pressures around him are increasing from “a lot, a lot, at any moment, activists, politicians, people from all spectra”, in reference to the constant urgency to push him towards the political scene.
He reveals himself about what is ignited inside, by saying: “It is true that the need to reform Israel is burning inside me. At some point, I will have to help or contribute to managing matters better, and if there is a suitable time for that, it is now.”
Netanyahu’s replacement
When asked about the most appropriate personality of the leadership of Israel among the names presented, he replied: “This is not the right question; the main problem is that none of them will not be able to defeat the Likud alone, and this is very sad for me.”
“I suggested that they form one unit and run as a unified political body, but each of them wants to run in the elections independently, to see those who come out and then invite others to form a coalition.”
He expressed his belief that this is a mistake, because “everyone – Eisenkot, Benin Gantz, Lubid, Yair Golan, Bennett, and Avigdor Lieberman, and now Hindel, and maybe soon” reserves “compete for the electoral base itself, and in the end the result will be fragmented, and there is one bloc, so why do they not unite it? Why do they not choose one leader who represents it entirely?”
On his ability to unite them, he said, “Yes, I can, but not now, separately, the Likud will always be the largest. She asked: Doesn’t that bother you? Do you not want to make a change?”
When he was asked about the possibility of Netanyahu’s return to the head of the government, he replied, “It cannot be excluded, but it depends only on us, if we unite.” As for the current government, he concluded, saying, “Its days must end immediately.”
He clearly said that Netanyahu should leave his position now, stressing that he should have resigned immediately after the October 7 attack and announces the date of an election, as he bears full responsibility for what happened with the rest of the ministers and officials.
Cohen’s book
The late discovery of Cohen’s actions has great repercussions, and this is reflected in his new book, “With Tricks, which will go into a war” issued by “Yediot Safarim”. The book was originally written in the English language for the foreign market and is currently subject to translation into Hebrew.
Cohen formulated the book with the help of a professional writer and 4 teams to publish it, to reveal not only his exploits as a secret agent and his thinking methods and beliefs, but also about his repeated warnings from the scenario of October 7, and the extent to which the higher levels of these warnings, and the consequences of this on Israel.
Once the war erupted, Cohen suggested that Netanyahu transfer a million Palestinians temporarily from Gaza to Sinai to facilitate the work of the army and reduce human losses, warning of a major crisis and deaths, which has already happened.
Netanyahu agreed to the initiative, and Cohen traveled to Qatar and Egypt to persuade their leaders, but his successor in Mossad, David Bernie, expressed his annoyance, and the Mossad and the Prime Minister’s office issued a statement that Cohen spent on his own, which put him in a sensitive position.
In his book, Cohen acknowledges Israel’s inability to win global public opinion, saying: “How can we win the propaganda battle, while former Prime Minister, former defense minister and former chief of staff to confirm that Israel is exercising war crimes and a starvation policy?”
Cohen notes that he is the most qualified person in Israel to manage hostages negotiations or manage the Israeli propaganda system, but these tasks are currently managed by parties that change according to Netanyahu’s mood, which led to the extinction of advertising.
Between war and agreement
Cohen recalls that after the “steadfast cliff” operation, the Mossad stimulating in Gaza was presented to help Israel because of the weak intelligence there and the absence of infrastructure, stressing that the sector is more like a target country and needs a special intervention.
Despite its presentation, the leadership refused the Mossad intervention, while Netanyahu preferred to listen to the conservative military leaders, although Cohen was supportive of the proactive action, such as his plan to eliminate Qasim Soleimani, which was completely prepared, but was prevented for fear of an Iranian war.
Cohen recalls that he proposed the destruction of Hamas missile factories and tunnels in Gaza, but he was met with a similar ignorance of the approach against Hezbollah, which allowed them to continue to strengthen their capabilities.
He denies any personal involvement in transferring Qatari funds to Gaza, stressing that he was just an envoy to collect donations within the Shahab plan, and suggested that any leakage of money publicly, but did not stop.
Regarding the war on Gaza, Cohen leaves the question of the continuation of the fighting, commenting that “the war will continue in Gaza unless a comprehensive agreement will be concluded that restore the kidnappers and stop the fighting,” adding that “the full victory over Hamas is limited because of the kidnappers and human responsibility, and that the war will continue until reaching an agreement.”
Urgent Israeli Channel 12 of retired officers: dismissing the Shin Bet, amid conflicts in interests, and at this time a violation of the law pic.twitter.com/scqG0lXJ7O
– Al Jazeera Egypt (@Aja_egypt) February 23, 2025
Iranian nuclear
Returning to his work in intelligence, Cohen attributes to himself the credit for prominent successes during his presidency of the Mossad.
He refers to his role in the “Pedge” explosive devices, by saying that he agreed to the first apparatus, “we sold tens of thousands of calls stuffed with explosives, the plan was against Hezbollah, so that we blow up the agencies when the party members took it, so the war erupts and attacks the Air Force.”
He adds that one of his most prominent achievements is the seizure of the Iranian nuclear archive, and the disclosure of Iran’s secret activities, and he claimed that in 2004 he established a special operations center within the Mossad to supply equipment.
For example, Cohen tells the story of the explosion in the Natanz reactor by saying, “There was a ‘balance table’ the size of the room, and it is made of one piece of marble, to transport the centrifugation device before the fertilization, we sold this table to Iran, so the entire factory was destroyed, bringing a new table is impossible, so we became an accredited resource for Iran in a secret way.”
Cohen is one of the most experienced intelligence experts in Israel, and indicates the success of his operations in Natanz and Forde, which greatly slowed Iran’s nuclear program.
It admits that the operations in Iran have suffered a price in terms of losses, but he believes that the price was necessary to remove a greater threat.
As for the future of the Iranian nuclear project, Cohen believes that the current Iranian nuclear threat has been removed, stressing that Iran does not currently fertilize uranium, and does not rule out the possibility of Israel’s intervention again if necessary.
(Tagstotranslate) Politics (T) Middle East (T) Jerusalem (T) Arabic