PM: I listen to Arik Einstein, Beatles, not phone calls of IDF and Mossad heads

Netanyahu slams the media for ‘lies’ after a report alleged he asked the Shin Bet security agency in 2011 to tap the phones of top spy and army chief

File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with then-IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, defense minister Moshe Ya'alon, Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen, Mossad director Tamir Pardo, and NSC head Yossi Cohen at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, to discuss the disappearance of three Jewish teenagers near Hebron, in the West Bank, June 14, 2014. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)
File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with then-IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz, defense minister Moshe Ya'alon, Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen, Mossad director Tamir Pardo, and NSC head Yossi Cohen at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, to discuss the disappearance of three Jewish teenagers near Hebron, in the West Bank, June 14, 2014. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday again dismissed a TV report alleging he asked the Shin Bet security agency in 2011 to tap the phones of the head of the Mossad and the IDF chief of staff, saying he prefers to listen to music.

“This is a complete lie,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to his social media accounts. “Not only am I saying this, former Shin Bet head [Yoram Cohen] also says that this is nonsense, a lie.”

Netanyahu went on to reveal what he “really listens to.”

“The High Windows, The Yarkon Bridge Trio, Arik Einstein,” he says, listing off Israeli musicians. “The Beatles — the first albums — Abba and also people from today.”

“But now we all need to wonder: will the media apologize for this lie? I doubt it,” he asked, saying that Israelis who “want to hear the truth” should refer to his social media accounts.

On Thursday, the Uvda TV program aired a report claiming that Netanyahu asked the former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen to monitor the communications of senior defense officials, including former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz and former head of the Mossad spy agency Tamir Pardo.

There was no evidence or specific concerns that Gantz and Pardo were leaking state secrets, the eavesdropping was meant as a “preventative measure,” according to the sources of the news program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) with outgoing Mossad director Tamir Pardo (right) and incoming director Yossi Cohen, at a ceremony for the newly appointed Mossad head, in Tel Aviv, on January 6, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Cohen reportedly denied the prime minister’s request, telling Netanyahu that the “Shin Bet is not supposed to use such drastic measure against the people leading the military and the Mossad.”

Pardo, who was interviewed by Uvda’s host Ilana Dayan, said he was shocked by the revelation.

“I don’t want to believe that in the State of Israel, which is a democratic country, the prime minister would ask the head of the Shin Bet to listen in on the chief of staff or myself. If [Netanyahu] didn’t believe in us, he could make us end our tenures within 10 minutes,” Pardo said.

Netanyahu’s office quickly responded to the report, calling it “totally unfounded,” but also appeared to acknowledge that at least some aspects of it were true.

“The claim that the prime minister asked the head of the Shin Bet to listen in on the chief of staff and head of the Mossad is totally unfounded,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. “It is a total distortion of the systemic efforts that are done occasionally in order to protect sensitive information of the utmost importance to the security of Israel.”

“The decision about which measures to use and against which individuals is left up to the authorized officials,” Netanyahu’s office said.

Then IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Navy ceremony on September 11, 2013. (AP Photo: Dan Balilty)

The revelation about the prime minister’s alleged eavesdropping request was part of a larger report aired by Uvda on Thursday night about the security cabinet’s discussions and decisions in 2011 as Israel considered carrying out a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities in order to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Pardo told the television program that Netanyahu instructed then-IDF chief Gantz to get the military ready to carry out an attack on Iran within 15 days of being ordered into action. That order, Pardo said, carried enormous significance, leading him to contemplate resigning rather than participate in an attack.

“It’s not something that you’re permitted to do just for practice,” he said of the request to put the military on a war footing. “If someone does that then it has two [possible] purposes: One purpose is that he really means [to attack] and the other option is that he is sending a signal, that someone out there should know.”

“It’s possible that someone in the United States would hear about it in one form or another, and that would motivate it to do something,” Pardo said.

Pardo, who was selected by Netanyahu to lead the Mossad and took over at the beginning of 2011, recalled that he began to look into whether the prime minister had the authority to order measures that could lead to war.

“I made inquiries about everything I could do. I checked with previous Mossad chiefs. I checked with legal advisers. I consulted anyone I could consult in order to understand who is authorized to give instructions about the whole issue of starting a war,” he said.

His predecessor, Meir Dagan, was vocally critical of Netanyahu and plans to attack Iran after leaving his post. Netanyahu’s decision to replace Dagan with Pardo was reportedly motivated, at least in part, by a desire to put someone in place who would support military action on Iran.

Among the people Pardo spoke to was the attorney general at the time, Yehuda Weinstein. At some point, Pardo admitted, Netanyahu became aware of his activities.

“In the end, if I get an order and if I get an instruction from the prime minister, I am supposed to carry it out,” he said. “I need to be certain if, God forbid, something goes wrong, even if the operation fails, that it shouldn’t be a situation that I carried out an illegal action.”

Asked if a strike on Iran was tantamount to starting a war, Pardo said, “Certainly.”

In the end, Pardo and Gantz both objected to Netanyahu’s plan and the prime minister dropped the order, he said.

Rejecting heavy criticism from Israel, world powers eventually signed the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, lifting heavy sanctions on the Islamic Republic that had been in place for years, in exchange for the freezing of much of its nuclear program.

On May 12, 2018, US President Donald Trump stopped participating in the nuclear deal, declaring that sanctions would be reimposed until the agreement was altered to place further restrictions on Iranian nuclear armament and long-range missile development program.

Pardo’s term as chief of Mossad ended in 2016, and the spy agency is now headed by Yossi Cohen. Gantz’s tenure as IDF chief of staff ended in early 2015. He was succeeded by Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot.

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