Ex-Mossad head Cohen distances self from Qatari funding for Hamas; says PM should boot aides paid by Doha

In the extensive Channel 12 interview tonight in which he says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should step aside, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen also says Netanyahu should have “immediately suspended” any aide working in the Prime Minister’s Office who has been working for Qatar.

“No worker in the PMO should be taking money from any foreign state,” he says, referring to allegations in the Qatargate affair, in which figures working for Netanyahu are suspected of also being paid to advocate for Doha. “And maybe Qatar above all.”

Cohen, who acknowledges playing a role in facilitating the supply of Qatari money to Gaza, claims that the Shin Bet and COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) initiated the policy, and that he merely helped implement a measure overseen by Netanyahu. He says he never worked for Qatar or benefited from the policy in any way.

“I do not feel guilty as regards the Israeli policy on the Qatari money [for Hamas],” he says. “The Qatari money was ultimately the responsibility of the government of Israel and its head.”

The Shin Bet immediately issues a statement denying that it initiated the policy, which was publicly endorsed by Netanyahu. Since October 7, the prime minister has been widely criticized over the measure, which was intended to ease financial pressure on Gazans, for ostensibly having helped fund Hamas.

Cohen also says he sought to have the Mossad play a role in Gaza during his 2016-2021 term, but claims the IDF and Shin Bet rejected the idea. He does not claim that Mossad involvement would have prevented October 7. He says he warned in July 2023 that the rift in Israel over the judicial overhaul was weakening Israel’s internal resilience and that there was reason to fear a war was imminent.

After the invasion, he says he warned Netanyahu to be wary of rushing into Gaza, and to “check the intelligence” that he was being given. “They’ll tell you the army is ready to go in tomorrow morning,” he says he told the prime minister. “Don’t buy it.”

Cohen also says he wanted to target Hezbollah long before October 7, and indicates he wanted to target a key facility in Iran after the killing of Qassem Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 2020, but Netanyahu was talked out of this by then IDF chief Aviv Kohavi.

Kohavi issues a statement saying the IDF opposed a different operation proposed by Cohen to kill Soleimani, and backed what proved to be a successful operation.

Cohen also denies any wrongdoing in the “submarine affair” concerning naval purchases by previous Netanyahu governments. A state commission of inquiry last year said that the former Mossad chief’s conduct in the purchase of the submarines “resulted in the serious disruption of work processes and force building, and harmed the decision-making process in a series of sensitive issues, thereby jeopardizing national security and harming the foreign relations and economic interests of the State of Israel.”

He says he found that accusation shocking, and has no doubt that it will be proved false.