Former head of Israel’s foreign intelligence service (Mossad), Tamir Pardo, is appalled by the Guardian’s investigation published this week that his successor, Yossi Cohen, threatened former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to dissuade her from investigating war crimes committed by Israel.
Pardo said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, “I do not think that anything like this has happened, and I do not think that a prime minister in Israel can issue such an order, and I do not think that the head of the Mossad can agree to carry out something like this.”
“I don’t think any Mossad employee would do things of the kind described in the Guardian article,” adds Pardo, who served as Mossad chief for five years from 2011 until 2016 when Cohen replaced him until 2021. “It sounds like mafia-style extortion.” Cosa Nostra…”
Forbidden act
Regarding the question that spy agencies commit mysterious acts in order to collect intelligence information and discredit enemies, and that they often use threats. Pardo replied, “There are things that spy agencies do not do, things that they will not do, and that they are forbidden from doing, and this is one of them.”
As for why in his opinion, he says, “Because this is a court and there is no reason to do this. I don’t know if someone is afraid of something, and I still very much hope that this is false defamation. I don’t want to think that anyone who works in the organization where I worked 36 Years, not to mention the person heading it, was involved in the event described in the media.
Regarding whether he is in denial and does not believe the Guardian report, especially since it has credibility and reliable sources, according to what the interviewer from Haaretz tells him, Pardo answers, “Maybe I am better off this way, otherwise it would just be a big disappointment for something like this to happen in my country.” “I’ve seen some strange things in my life, but I refuse to believe that the organization I serve and whose values I serve could do something like this.”
Regarding the possibility that what was published was related to blackmail and threats to the International Criminal Prosecutor, the former head of the Mossad concludes:If something like this happens, we cut not only the branch we are sitting on, but the entire trunk of the tree. “No court – whether a magistrate’s court, a district court, or a supreme court in Israel, or in any country or international forum, will tolerate blackmail and intimidation.”
The British newspaper The Guardian reported in an investigation published this week – citing sources – that the former head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, was personally involved in a secret conspiracy to pressure Bensouda.
Investigative journalist Harry Davies revealed, in a report from Jerusalem, that Cohen threatened Bensouda in a series of secret meetings, during which he tried to pressure and blackmail her to abandon the investigation into war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The publication of the Ghadrian report, which was considered a scandal for Israel, came a week after the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who replaced Bensouda, requested the issuance of arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant.
