London, Thanasis Gavos

The then head of the Mossad, Israel’s security intelligence agency, Yoshi Cohen (photo with Netanyahu) allegedly threatened a top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in secret meetings in which he tried to persuade it to abandon the investigation into the commission of war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The response of the British Guardian newspaper from Jerusalem that reveals the case, states that Mr. Cohen had the meetings with the then prosecutor Fatou Bensouda from 2018 to 2021.

ICC lawyer from Gambia had decided in 2015 to begin a preliminary investigation into Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. The investigation was formalized in 2021. It culminated in new prosecutor Karim Khan’s urging last week to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in connection with the war on the Gaza Strip.

According to the Guardian, which cited four Israeli or other officials as sources, the then Mossad chief’s actions were authorized by Israel’s “highest echelons” and justified on the basis of a perceived threat of prosecution against members of the Israeli armed forces.

According to the sources, Cohen he was acting as Netanyahu’s “unofficial messenger”. and his effort was aimed at exposing the prosecutor or framing her as someone who would cooperate with Israeli claims.

Ms. Bensouda had briefed a close circle of ICC officials on Cohen’s attempts to persuade her by expressing concern about the increasingly “persistent and threatening nature of his behaviour”.

She had said that she was under pressure not to proceed with the investigation and that the head of the Mossad had threatened her with the following words: “You should help us and let us take care of you. You don’t want to get involved in things that could put them in danger your safety or the safety of your family.”

Mr. Cohen was described as a constant stalker of the prosecutor, who is alleged to have wiretapped her husband’s conversations in an effort to expose Ms. Bensouda.

Asked by the Guardian about the allegations, a spokesman for the Israeli government dismissed them as “false and baseless, in order to harm the state of Israel.