Yossi Cohen

Yossi Cohen
יוסי כהן
Cohen in 2016
Director of Mossad
In office
5 January 2016 – 1 June 2021
Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu
Preceded byTamir Pardo
Succeeded byDavid Barnea
9th National Security Advisor (Israel)
In office
August 2013 – January 2016
Preceded byYaakov Amidror
Succeeded byEytan Ben-David
Personal details
Born (1961-09-10) 10 September 1961 (age 63)
Jerusalem

Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen (Hebrew: יוסף מאיר כהן; born 10 September 1961) is an Israeli intelligence officer.

After mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Forces, Cohen joined in the Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency of Israel, in 1982. He rose to lead Mossad's Tzomet Division and was the agency's deputy director from 2011 to 2013, when he was appointed National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In 2016, Cohen succeeded Tamir Pardo as the Mossad's director. During his tenure, he oversaw Mossad's operation to steal Iran's nuclear archive and was the chief negotiator during the Abraham Accords. He stepped down from the agency in 2021.

Early life

Cohen was born in Jerusalem[1] to a religious family and grew up in the Katamon neighborhood. His father Aryeh was an eighth-generation Sabra who was descended from one of the founding families of the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. He worked in a senior position at Bank Mizrahi and was also an Irgun veteran.[2] His mother Mina was a teacher and school principal.[3] She was a seventh-generation Sabra, born to a Jewish family rooted in Hebron, now part of the West Bank.

Cohen was raised in a religious household and was a member of the Bnei Akiva religious Zionist youth movement. He attended the religious high school Yeshivat Or Etzion.[2]

Career

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, flanked by U.S. Special Envoy for Israeli–Palestinian Negotiations Frank Lowenstein and Israeli National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen, on 11 November 2015, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Cohen was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1979. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the 35th Paratroopers Brigade. He served as a soldier and a squad leader.[4] After being discharged, he studied at university in London, and joined the Mossad in 1982.[5] His initial codename was "Callan," after the British TV series that he was a fan of.[6] He became a case officer, charged with recruiting and handling spies in foreign nations. While in training, he had been the only religious candidate in the Mossad's case officer course at the time.[2]

He ran agents in a number of countries over his career, and rose to lead the Mossad's collections division ("Tsomet").[7] From 2011 to 2013, he was the deputy director of the Mossad,[8] serving under Tamir Pardo. He was known publicly as "Y" (Hebrew: "י") in this post.[9] Cohen won the prestigious Israel Security Prize for his Mossad work.[10]

In August 2013, he was appointed the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mossad director

In December 2015, Cohen was appointed to succeed Tamir Pardo as director of the Mossad,[11][12] and assumed office in January 2016. Cohen is one of the closest officials to Netanyahu.[13]

In January 2018, Cohen oversaw the Mossad operation to steal Iran's secret nuclear archive in Tehran and smuggle it out of the country.[13] According to the Jerusalem Post, a map of nuclear sites captured in the operation has not yet been made public.[13] Among the assassinations attributed to the Mossad during Cohen's tenure were those of Hamas drone expert Mohamed Zouari in Tunisia, Hamas rocket expert Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh in Malaysia, and Iranian nuclear program chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Iran.[14][15][16]

Cohen has also been the chief Israeli official in charge of managing Israel's largely clandestine relations with various Arab nations. He has often met with representatives of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar and helped negotiate Netanyahu's visit to Oman in 2018. Reportedly, he met Sudan's chief of intelligence, though the Sudanese intelligence service denied it. He was Israel's chief negotiator in arranging the Israel–United Arab Emirates peace agreement.[17][18][19]

In June 2021, Cohen retired from Israel’s national intelligence agency.[20]

Political views

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

At a conference in 2019 in Herzliya, Israel, Cohen announced that Israel has a unique window of opportunity to reach a comprehensive peace agreement with the Palestinians. He stated that this is also the view of the Mossad unit whose job it is to analyze diplomatic opportunities. Given the present good relations with the United States, the Russian government, and restoration of partial diplomatic ties with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf centered around opposition to Iran, in Cohen's view there is a one-time opportunity for Middle East peace under terms very beneficial to Israel that the Israeli government must now seize.[21]

The Jerusalem Post reported in September 2019 that Cohen "does not believe anything will move on the peace process until Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas leaves office."[13]

Relationship with Netanyahu

Netanyahu reportedly considered Cohen to be the best person to succeed him as prime minister when he leaves office.[13] In a 2021 interview, Cohen stated that his "the relationship of trust" with Netanyahu was "very useful for the Mossad’s operations and its development," but denied that it had affected the Mossad's independence.[6]

Controversies

James Packer gift

In August 2021, Attorney General of Israel Avichai Mandelblit announced an investigation into claims that Cohen had accepted a $20,000 gift from Australian billionaire James Packer.[22] In 2022, Cohen returned the gift to Packer,[23] and in 2023, the Attorney General's office concluded the investigation, finding that the gift had been approved by the Mossad’s legal adviser.[24]

Channel 13 investigation

In December 2021, Channel 13 released a report claiming that Cohen had had an affair with a flight attendant in 2018 and had revealed classified information to her.[25]

Intimidation of Fatou Bensouda

In spring 2024, it was reported that Cohen had threatened Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda and her family when he was Mossad director after Bensouda opened an investigation into Israeli war crimes.[26] Tamir Pardo, Cohen's predecessor as Mossad director, compared the allegations to "like Cosa Nostra blackmail," saying it was "at the extreme of things that must not be done."[27] Haaretz journalist Gur Megiddo subsequently reported that Cohen had attempted to convince Congolese president Joseph Kabila to assist in the intimidation and that he had been threatened by government officials over his investigation into Cohen.[28]

Assessments

Intelligence reporter Ronen Bergman has written that Cohen has a reputation as a tough boss, that he speaks fluent English, French, and Arabic.[29]

In September 2019, The Jerusalem Post listed Cohen as the most influential Jew of the year.[30]

Personal life

Cohen lives in Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and is a Masorti Jew.[31] He and his wife Aya have four children.[10] One of his sons, Yonatan, is a former officer in Unit 8200 and has cerebral palsy.[32] He also has one granddaughter. He is also a marathon runner and is known as 'The Model' for his stylish appearance.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Deputy Mossad chief appointed national security adviser". The Times of Israel. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Wootliff, Raoul (7 December 2015). "Netanyahu said set to tap Yossi Cohen as next Mossad chief". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  3. ^ Dolev, Tom (7 December 2015). "The next Mossad Director – Yossi Cohen". Jerusalem Online. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  4. ^ Levinson, Chaim (26 August 2018). "A Golden Age for the Mossad: More Targets, More Ops, More Money". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 24 August 2018.
  5. ^ a b Lynfield, Ben (8 December 2015). "The Israeli spymaster straight out of Le Carré". The Independent. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  6. ^ a b "In stunning, revelatory interview, ex-Mossad chief warns Iran, defends Netanyahu". The Times of Israel. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Veteran Spy-Runner Moves from Mossad to be Netanyahu's Chief Advisor on National Security — Iran Options Are a Key Focus". IsraelSpy.com. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Jewish 100, 2015: Yossi Cohen – Government". Algemeiner.com.
  9. ^ Bergman, Ronen (5 June 2011). "Mossad chief names new deputy". Ynetnews. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  10. ^ a b Keinon, Herb (21 August 2013). "PM names deputy Mossad head as new National Security council chief". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  11. ^ "Yossi Cohen is next Mossad Director". Debka.com. 7 December 2015.
  12. ^ "Yossi Cohen named new Mossad chief". The Jerusalem Post. 7 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b c d e Bob, Yonah Jeremy (September 29, 2019). "Yossi Cohen: The Mossad spy chief who stole Iran's secret nuclear archive". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2019-09-29.
  14. ^ Atwood, Kylie (2 December 2020). "US official says Israel was behind assassination of Iranian scientist". CNN.
  15. ^ Winer, Stuart (2 March 2019). "Malaysian police release photo of suspect in killing of Hamas rocket expert". The Times of Israel.
  16. ^ Khoury, Jack (November 16, 2017). "Hamas: Mossad agents carrying Bosnian passports behind Tunisia drone expert assassination". Haaretz.
  17. ^ "From Mossad overtures to frenetic US diplomacy: How UAE deal reportedly happened". The Times of Israel. 14 August 2018.
  18. ^ Bassist, Rina (August 14, 2020). "Mossad chief likely to continue advancing Israel, UAE contacts". Al-Monitor.
  19. ^ "Sudan intel chief denies meeting Mossad head to talk supplanting nation's leader". The Times of Israel. 2 March 2019.
  20. ^ "Key passages from outgoing Mossad chief's unprecedented TV interview". The Times of Israel. 21 June 2021. Archived from the original on 23 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Mossad Chief Exposes Vision of Peace, Calls to Act". Al-Monitor. 8 July 2019.
  22. ^ "State prosecutors reportedly to probe ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen". The Times of Israel. 9 August 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  23. ^ Weitz, Gidi (14 April 2022). "Ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen returns cash-gift received from billionaire Packer". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  24. ^ Sharon, Jeremy (15 March 2023). "AG ends police probe into ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen over suspected illicit gift". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  25. ^ "Mossad chief had affair and revealed classified information, report says - Israel News". Haaretz. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  26. ^ Davies, Harry (2024-05-28). "Revealed: Israeli spy chief 'threatened' ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-05-28.:According to accounts shared with ICC officials, he is alleged to have told her: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.'
  27. ^ Melman, Yossi (30 May 2024). "'Sounds like Cosa Nostra blackmail': Former Mossad chief on successor's alleged threats against ICC prosecuto". Haaretz. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  28. ^ Beaumont, Peter (30 May 2024). "Israeli journalist describes threats over reporting on spy chief and ICC". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  29. ^ "What the new boss of Mossad means for Israeli foreign policy". The Economist. 8 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  30. ^ "50 Influencers 2019". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  31. ^ "New Mossad chief: Israel needs heavenly help". i24NEWS. December 15, 2015.
  32. ^ Eichner, Itamar (26 August 2013). "Newly appointed National Security Advisor Cohen's son reveals moving family story". Ynetnews. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
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