The Guardian: Revealing a new Mossad scandal… threatened the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
The Guardian newspaper revealed that Yossi Cohen, the former head of the Israeli Mossad, had threatened the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in a series of secret meetings with the aim of pressuring her to abandon the investigation into war crimes.
The Guardian newspaper reported that secret communications between Cohen and the then Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, occurred during the years preceding her decision to open an official investigation into war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Guardian quoted a prominent Israeli official as saying that Cohen’s involvement in this operation against the International Criminal Court came during his tenure as director of the Mossad, where his activities were carried out with high-level approval, and were considered necessary given that the court was threatening to prosecute Israeli military personnel.
Another Israeli source familiar with this operation reported that the Mossad’s goal was to recruit Bensouda to cooperate with Israel’s demands.
A third source familiar with the operation confirmed that Cohen served as an unofficial messenger for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Four sources confirmed that Bensouda informed a small group of senior ICC officials of Cohen’s attempts to influence her, citing growing concerns about his ongoing and threatening behavior.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Mossad took a keen interest in Bensouda’s family members, obtaining copies of secret recordings of her husband, and Israeli officials attempted to use this material to discredit her.
The Guardian also reported that the Mossad received unexpected support in its efforts to influence Bensouda from Joseph Kabila, the former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This information forms part of an upcoming investigation by The Guardian, in cooperation with local Israeli website and magazine, which highlights how multiple Israeli intelligence agencies have been conducting a secret war against the ICC for nearly a year.
In contact with The Guardian, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said, “The questions submitted to us are filled with many false and baseless allegations aimed at harming the State of Israel”.
