Former Mossad chief 'threatened' ICC official, forced her to drop Israel war crime probe

Yossi Cohen, former head of the Israel intelligence agency, Mossad, allegedly threatened the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda to close the investigation on Israeli war crimes in Palestine, The Guardian reported. His involvement against the ICC reportedly occurred while he was still serving as the head of the Mossad.

Cohen and Bensouda had secret meetings before her decision to open an investigation against Israel in 2021 on the suspicion of war crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territories.

In this mission to sway the former prosecutor, Joseph Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, helped Israel. He reportedly played an unknown role in supporting the plot.

'Did you forget what I do for a living?'

In New York, Bensouda had a surprise meeting with Cohen and Kabila.

After that meeting, three sources told The Guardian that Cohen repeatedly contacted the chief prosecutor and arranged meetings with her. At one stage Bensouda asked Cohen how he got her number. Cohen replied her saying, “Did you forget what I do for a living?”

The sources also revealed that Cohen tried to “build a relationship” with Bensouda on the initial stage of their meetings. He played a “good cop” to charm the prosecutor to enlist her into cooperating with Israel.

But over the time, his tone of contact changed, and he started using various tactics and taking help of “threats and manipulation,” an individual briefed on the meetings said.

Bensouda, eventually, informed a small group of senior ICC officials about Cohen’s behaviour.

The Guardian cited an Israeli source that noted that the Mossad sought to "compromise the prosecutor or enlist her as someone who would cooperate with Israel's demands."

A source also told The Guardian that Cohen was acting as the "unofficial messenger" of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Guardian quoted Cohen as saying, “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.”

Other reports revealed that Mossad, under the tenure of Cohen, tried to invade her personal space by obtaining transcripts of conversations between Bensouda and her husband to use them to discredit her.

An individual quoted by The Guardian also linked Cohen’s behaviour with “stalking”.

The investigation came to light after Karim Khan, present chief prosecutor of ICC, announced arrest warrents against Netanyahu, and Israeli Defence Minister, Yoav Gallantm along with three Hamas officials.

Although, when The Guardian contacted a spokesperson for the Israel Prime Minister's Office, he said, “The questions forwarded to us are replete with many false and unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel.”