Yossi Cohen | |
|---|---|
יוסי כהן | |
.jpg) Cohen in 2016 | |
| Director ofMossad | |
| In office 5 January 2016 – 1 June 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Benjamin Netanyahu |
| Preceded by | Tamir Pardo |
| Succeeded by | David Barnea |
| 9th National Security Advisor (Israel) | |
| In office August 2013 – January 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Yaakov Amidror |
| Succeeded by | Eytan Ben-David |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-09-10)10 September 1961 (age 64) |
Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen (Hebrew:יוסף מאיר כהן; born 10 September 1961) is an Israeli intelligence officer.
After mandatory service in theIsraeli Defense Forces, Cohen joined theMossad, the national intelligence agency ofIsrael, in 1982. He rose to lead Mossad'sTzomet Division and was the agency's deputy director from 2011 to 2013, when he was appointedNational Security Advisor toPrime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu.
In 2016, Cohen succeededTamir Pardo as the Mossad's director. During his tenure, he oversawMossad's operation to steal Iran's nuclear archive and was the chief negotiator during theAbraham Accords. He stepped down from the agency in 2021.
Cohen was born inJerusalem[1] to a religious family and grew up in theKatamon neighborhood. His father Aryeh was an eighth-generationSabra who was descended from one of the founding families of theMea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. He worked in a senior position atBank Mizrahi and was also anIrgun veteran.[2] His mother Mina was a teacher and school principal.[3] She was a seventh-generation Sabra, born to aJewish family rooted inHebron, now part of theWest Bank.
Cohen was raised in a religious household and was a member of theBnei Akiva religious Zionist youth movement. He attended the religious high schoolYeshivat Or Etzion.[2]
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Cohen was drafted into theIsrael Defense Forces in 1979. He volunteered as a paratrooper in the35th Paratroopers Brigade. He served as a soldier and asquad leader.[4] After being discharged, he studied at university in London, and joined the Mossad in 1982.[5] His initial codename was "Callan," after theBritish 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 underTamir Pardo. He was known publicly as "Y" (Hebrew: "י") in this post.[9] Cohen won the prestigiousIsrael Security Prize for his Mossad work.[10]
In August 2013, he was appointed theNational Security Advisor to thePrime Minister of Israel,Benjamin Netanyahu.
In December 2015, Cohen was appointed to succeedTamir 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 theMossad operation to steal Iran's secret nuclear archive inTehran and smuggle it out of the country.[13] According to theJerusalem 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 ofHamas drone expertMohamed Zouari in Tunisia, Hamas rocket expertFadi Mohammad al-Batsh in Malaysia, and Iranian nuclear program chiefMohsen 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 theSudanese intelligence service denied it. He was Israel's chief negotiator in arranging theIsrael–United Arab Emirates peace agreement.[17][18][19]
In June 2021, Cohen retired from Israel's national intelligence agency.[20]
At a conference in 2019 inHerzliya, 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 theArab 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 PresidentMahmoud Abbas leaves office."[13]
Netanyahu reportedly considered Cohen and Israeli Ambassador to the USRon Dermer to be the two best candidates 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]
In August 2021,Attorney General of IsraelAvichai Mandelblit announced an investigation into claims that Cohen had accepted a $20,000 gift from Australian billionaireJames 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]
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]
In spring 2024, it was reported that Cohen had threatenedProsecutor of the International Criminal CourtFatou Bensouda and her family when he was Mossad director after Bensouda opened an investigation into allegedIsraeli war crimes.[26]Tamir Pardo, Cohen's predecessor as Mossad director, compared the allegations to "likeCosa 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 presidentJoseph Kabila to assist in the intimidation and that he had been threatened by government officials over his investigation into Cohen.[28]
Intelligence reporterRonen 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]
Cohen lives inModi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and is aMasorti Jew.[31] He and his wife Aya have four children.[10] One of his sons, Yonatan, is a former officer inUnit 8200 and hascerebral palsy.[32] He also has one granddaughter. He is also amarathon runner and is known as 'The Model' for his stylish appearance.[5]
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